Raglan 23 was fortunate to receive late last week a printed copy of the Waikato District Council’s Annual Plan 2013-2014. This 114 page full colour document on glossy paper tells us what this council plans to do this year and how much they will be putting up our rates.
On page 50 the plan tells us that the Waikato District Council has a strategic focus of Sustainable Environment. Many organisations now say that they are focussing on sustainability. And when this claim is made, it is reflected in the annual report published by those organisations. U.S. companies seem to do this the best having a small glossy booklet of highlights and printing the details on newsprint. New Zealand companies often do it all in one booklet, but feature how it has been printed on paper with a 65% recycled content and the remainder coming from plantations certified by FSC, the Forest Stewardship Council.
In its normal quirky approach, Waikato District Council claims a strategic focus of sustainability, but produces a lavish annual report, without stating where the paper the report was printed on came from or whether soy based inks were used. We can only hope that they did the right thing for sustainability. At least they have the Annual Plan available online to avoid the need for further printed copies.