Questions such as costs will also be one of the major concerns. According to Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance, the winner of WasteWi$e Award 2001, good environmental-friendly practice not only saves money, but also increases the productivity and enhances customers' satisfaction.

The WasteWi$e Scheme is organised by the Environmental Protection Department, aiming to commend and recognise waste reduction efforts of commercial and industrial companies. It is concurrent with the Hong Kong Eco-Business Awards Scheme, which is co-organised by the Hong Kong Productivity Council, Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce and many others. It aims to educate and encourage companies about the importance of environmental management.

Besides public awareness of environmental protection, new technological innovations no doubt play a very important role. The fast-moving technology has changed the landscape of many aspects of our lives, and so has it helped preserving the environment. The LPG and electric cars, for instance, are likely to offer solutions to the air pollution problem in some years. Though at the current stage there are still many technical problems that engineers have to address, the signs are simply promising and encouraging.

Good environmentally friendly management practice is also indispensable. This can be well reflected by the aforementioned Eco-Business Scheme. Under the Scheme awards are given to organisations with sound environmental management of office, construction, and property respectively. Management skills and technological tools are inter-related and inter-dependent. Take paper consumption in offices as an example. Every office consumes and generates large amount paper everyday, this is especially true for solicitors firms and accountants firms. Many companies are trying to minimise the consumption of papers by, for instance, careful usage or replacing letters by e-mails. They may also consider using recycled papers. This, of course, can save the papers up to a certain point. Yet companies, in the aspect of documents storage, finds it difficult to reduce the huge quantity of papers, for hard copies in black and white are still commonly deemed to be most authentic and reliable.

Though a paperless office is not common, but it is inevitable that sooner or later every office will adopt the practice of conservation and reduction of paper consumption. This is especially true with the introduction of the Electronic Transactions Ordinance (Cap. 553) in Hong Kong whereby the Court will recognise (under prescribed circumstances) evidence in electronic format. The implication of this is that people will have more confidence in entering into an agreement or contract digitally. This does not only save paper, it also saves the valuable time of the parties involved. Rather than having to spend time to travel to the office of one of the parties and then sign an agreement, people can now sign an agreement digitally in front of their own computer! Furthermore, in an organised environment, less storage space is needed, hence reduction in storage cost and lowers the possibility of having a document disappearing!

At present, it may seem that in order for businesses, especially for solicitors firms where virtually all documentation is based on paper, to catch up with the this digital era and dispense with enormous paper consumption will pose high setup costs, nevertheless, they may consider utilising readily available products and services on the market.

In addition, businesses could also promote a paperless office by utilizing goods and services provided by companies promoting a paperless office, such as i-LegalService, whereby users can order their services electronically in addition to paper based ordering. With mutual support, offices will in time become a truly paperless office.

While the technological advancement in the past decades has brought us convenience, it has imposed threats to the environment. To maintain long-term economic growth and to preserve a good living environment for the later generations, we must give due weight to the issue by catching up with the latest development.