Rachel Kelly, Channel NewsAsia 20 Jan 10;
SINGAPORE: A new startup in Singapore is cutting business costs and taking on an environmentally-friendly postal service.
Global leaders are continuing to urge international action on increasing clean energy usage and climate change awareness.
At the start of this week, President of the Maldives, Mohammed Nasheed, expressed concern over the Copenhagen Accord. He said in its present form, the accord would not be enough to prevent climate change.
While governments are working on fighting the effects of climate change, companies are coming up with innovative solutions for reducing carbon footprints.
It is estimated that, on average, every bill sent costs a company about S$1, but with paperless billing or e-billing, Singapore firm GreenPost said that cost could be reduced by as much as 80 per cent.
According to GreenPost, only 5 per cent of Singaporeans have gone paperless when it comes to receiving their bills. The firm has created a secure online portal or "mail box" for users to receive their bills and statements.
GreenPost plans to process 10 per cent of bills in Singapore by 2012.
Kris Childress, director for Marketing and Strategy, GreenPost, said: "In Singapore, our conservative estimates are (that) there are probably 200 million pages or bills a year that are sent out to consumers.
"So we are talking forests and forests of trees involved in that. The main reason we found that people aren't going paperless is because they were concerned about the amount of work it takes to go to different websites.
"So just as you have one post office box, you will have one computer box that your bills will come to. You go to a single screen, you call it up, you can look at the bills, you can pay the bills. You can go ... months back and view the bills."
GreenPost is working with telecommunications and energy firms in Singapore to provide paperless billing to consumers. It is also in discussions with some local banks.
The firm said it also plans to break into the international market. GreenPost believes that markets such as India, Australia and New Zealand offer potential for the development of paperless billing.
- CNA/sc
