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SCMP Reporter

THE old Wan Chai Post Office will open its doors to a new kind of customer from September in a plan to turn it into Hongkong's first environmental resource centre.

  The post office is currently boarded up as Hopewell Holdings shores up its foundations, which were damaged during construction of the company's Wu Chung Building nearby.

  Built in 1913, the office will be handed over to the Environmental Protection Department (EPD) at the end of next month. It hopes to have the centre up and running within six months.

  Mr Edward Lam Wah-king, the EPD's community relations officer, is drawing up a report outlining his proposal to make the centre accessible to the general public.

  Books, newspaper clippings, exhibits, videos and, it is hoped, a simple touch-screen computer system with audio-visual capabilities, will be available to inform people on environmental issues.

  The material will cover popular topics such as green consumerism and creating a green household, as well as more complex issues such as Government environmental impact assessments on major projects.

  There will also be a permanent display on the history of Hongkong and the post office building itself.

  The site has long been sought by EPD director, Dr Stuart Reed, as a centre for broadening awareness of environmental issues.

  Mr Lam said: ''It's meant for school groups, community groups, the general public. Its target group is quite diverse and encompasses everyone, except maybe those doing research papers who might be better off using university libraries.''   About $600,000 has been provided for equipment and books and the Architectural Services Department will carry out renovations. But another $400,000 in sponsorship is being sought to pay for the touch-screen computer and database.

  The British Council has already offered to donate 130 English-language books on the environment, which recently were on display at the City Hall library with about 40 Chinese-language publications.

  The collection will be at Kowloon Central library from February 4 to 10, and the Council hopes the books will tour other local libraries until the centre opens.

 THE greenest companies in Hongkong are unlikely to be based in the territory at all, according to two reports compiled by Chinese University and Hongkong University business students.

  The reports, which assess firms' efforts to clean up their environmental act, show branches of overseas-owned companies easily have the upper hand.

  The survey results, though not comprehensive, unsurprisingly reinforce the view that Hongkong businessmen are mostly looking for nothing more than quick profits - a situation some of the students hope to change when they enter the workforce.

  Among the companies singled out for having a cleaner record was overseas-based brewer San Miguel, which brought in equipment to control air and water pollution and produced a manual for the Environmental Protection Department on environmental audits.

  International retailers The Body Shop, Esprit de Corp and Ikea have introduced environmentally-friendly products, as well as in-house measures such as raising staff awareness and cutting down on waste.

  Other firms to win praise include the giant hong Swire, now based in the UK, oil companies Caltex and Shell, China Light and Power and Hongkong Electric, which both have some overseas ownership, and at least one locally-based operator, papermaker Concordia Paper.

  These companies were said not only to have improved internal operations, but to have successfully marketed their accomplishments to a wide public audience.

  Ms Joanie Fok Yuen-ching, who led the Chinese University programme, said: ''When we were contacting companies, we found foreign companies were doing things already but from local companies there was a negative response.

  ''They realise customers are not yet really sensitive to this issue.''   The findings may appear discouraging, but Ms Fok and her colleagues offer a bright hope for the future.

  She said that during the course of their work, students began to adopt less wasteful practices such as re-using paper and turning off lights, and they hoped to encourage this in their future places of employment.

If your business or organisation has an environmental project of interest, or you wish to call attention to an environmental problem in your neighbourhood, please fax the information to Ecowatch, 811-1278, or mail it care of the South China Morning Post.



Post office puts stamp on delivering green message