The Government Gazette goes environmental friendly

Edition 18,361 of the Government Gazette, the first this year, has been printed on recycled paper.

It was the first time that recycled paper was used for the gazette but this will now become the norm.

Parliamentary Secretary for Information Chris Said celebrated the occasion with a visit to the Government Printing Press.

He said that the impact of the new measure was expected to be sizeable since it was published at least twice weekly - 191 editions, incorporating a total of 12,534 pages, were published last year.

These were accompanied by 361 legal notices (4,454 pages), 16 Acts (452 pages), 18 Bills (626 pages), and three local council by-laws (34 pages) The gazette has a print-run of 650 copies bringing the total number of paper up to 11,765,000.

Dr Said said that recycled paper was indistinguishable from normal paper except for occasional small black specks.

He said that paper waste was also being separated and sent for recycling as were spent aluminium plates. Moreover, the packing system for publications has been changed with the introduction of two strapping machines reducing the use of cardboard boxes by 80 per cent.

Director Charles Sammut pointed out that eco-friendliness came at a cost since recycled paper cost, on average, 20 per cent more than normal paper. However, the price was likely to go down with an increase in demand brought about by higher awareness, he said.

Photo: DOI, Clodagh O’Neill