'Climate crisis' Cornwall Council prints 21 million pages

A council that declared a "climate emergency" is printing about 21 million pages a year, it has emerged.

Cornwall Council, which has pledged to reduce its carbon footprint, produced 1.7 million sheets in June alone, figures showed.

The figures were included in an agenda - itself totalling 170 pages - was presented to a committee discussing the authority's "digital transformation".

Cornwall Council said it was working to reduce its paper usage.

Figures showed printing cost council tax payers £280,000 in the last year.

If this were cut in half, it would save 1,300 trees and £140,000, said the report, which went before the customer and support service overview and scrutiny committee.

Councillor Colin Martin, Liberal Democrat Cornwall councillor for Lostwithiel, said the council needed to do more, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

"This is 2019, not 1920," he said.

"Paper still has a use for reaching people who don't use computers, but the council's internal business should be digital by default.

"Every councillor and every officer has a laptop, which they should bring to meetings rather than expecting to be handed a pile of papers when they walk into a room."

Earlier this year, the authority published a climate change action plan which sets out plans to cut carbon emissions and improve the environment in the county.

This includes a major plan to create a Forest for Cornwall which would see 50,000 trees planted.

Cornwall Council said it is looking hard at what the council can do to reduce its carbon footprint and has already identified places to cut paper usage.

In 2019, the council said, it reduced the use of office printers compared with last year.

It said it also launched a "Be Green, Keep it on the Screen" campaign, encouraging staff to only print when it is essential.