Bandung Official Pushes for Paperless Administration to Boost Smart City and Waste Reduction Goals

Bandung city is intensifying its efforts to cut daily waste by 250 tons, focusing on source management and bolstering its localized processing systems. This initiative is further supported by a push to optimize electronic administration, specifically by eliminating the simultaneous requirement for both softcopy and hardcopy documents.

“

If a document already has legal standing through an electronic signature, a digital correspondence system, or an electronic archive, then printing the same document should no longer be a routine obligation.

City officials are evaluating current administrative practices where documents are often required in both digital and printed formats. This is seen as an area for improvement to enhance paper efficiency. Radea Respati, head of Commission I of the Bandung City Regional People's Representative Council, argues that if a document holds legal standing through electronic signatures or digital archives, printing it should not be a routine obligation.

“

Using two document formats simultaneously not only increases paper waste but also leads to budget overruns, higher energy consumption, and contradicts modern bureaucracy principles of effectiveness, efficiency, and environmental sustainability.

"Using two document formats simultaneously not only increases paper waste but also leads to budget overruns, higher energy consumption, and contradicts modern bureaucracy principles of effectiveness, efficiency, and environmental sustainability," Respati stated. He added that paper documents slow down the realization of a smart city by hindering efficiency, limiting data integration, and conflicting with sustainability principles.

“

The use of paper documents slows down the realization of a smart city because it hinders efficiency, limits data integration, and contradicts the principle of environmental sustainability.

Respati emphasized that Bandung's 2018 waste management regulation mandates waste reduction at the source. Therefore, more optimal digital administration is a direct support to this policy. He urged an evaluation of administrative procedures to align softcopy and hardcopy usage with actual needs, promoting a new work culture that confirms the necessity before printing. "Digitalization of administration must be fully realized, not just moving documents to electronic formats," he concluded.

“

Digitalization of administration must be fully realized, not just moving documents to electronic formats.