Are e-readers more environmentally friendly than paper books?

[WillAdams]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

renewable resource. Plastic (from oil) is not.

PLA plastic made from corn is renewable (or compostable --- your choice).

[jojoba]

Interesting thread!

Ethical Consumer argues books are better than e-readers, citing electricity consumption and the wide range of minerals used in e-readers as key factors:

http://www.ethicalconsumer.org/ethic...vironment.aspx

[elcreative]

Originally Posted by WillAdams

PLA plastic made from corn is renewable (or compostable --- your choice).

And it's used in how many eReaders or irrelevant to discussion?

[ProfCrash]

ehh, they say the same thing. If you read 50 books on it, it is the same as reading paper books in terms of the carbon foot print for making it.

So the question is, does reading book 51 take less or more energy then the energy that goes into making a paperback book? I would guess that it takes less energy to power the device to read a book then it does to make an entire paper back.

For people on this site, who regularly read 50 books a year, the e-reader is more enviromentally friendly then paper books.

And the whole bit about recycling? There are only so many times a piece of paper can be recycled. A fair amount of what is sent to recycling center does not get efficently recycled. And even when it does, it requires the use of energy and water and other resources. So recycling is not an energy free process or a guarentee.

[5thWiggle]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Weird. Paper is a renewable resource. Plastic (from oil) is not.

Actually, the polyethylene in the bags is made from ethane which is a component of natural gas (along with methane) or is a byproduct of distilling oil into gasoline. In gasoline production, ethane is produced anyway so there may as be a use for it instead of just releasing it into the atmosphere.

[Barbara1955]

What ever plastic bags are made of they use the used bags in my area to make park benches! Comfortable to sit on no maintance & seem to last forever!

[ProfCrash]

Little Man has plates, cups, spoons, and forks made from recycled milk jugs and grocery bags.

[Barbara1955]

So maybe this question might be RELAVAT to this topic! HOW come my ne Computer says it made from Recycled Plastic? Me thinks it means the plastic case!

[ProfCrash]

The case maybe. Also some of the metals. They do have people who remove the precious metals and rare metals in electronics so that they can be recycled. I believe that the last article linked discussed the dangers of removing those metals and how damaging it can be to poor individuals in third world countries that have this job.

[Waylander]

Wow, I'm surprised and pleased that this has developed into this discussion. There are lots of interesting viewpoints, which makes it a much more interesting thread. Thankyou to everyone for taking part!

[Barbara1955]

Then it wouldn't surprise me if ereaders were made of recycled plastics.

[LovesMacs]

Originally Posted by Katie1

Well when I was a kid they Forced ALL the Stores to switch from Paper to Plastic! Just to save the Trees! So how many trees do you think your saving by using a Re-Use able eReader over a Bunch of HB/PB books made from trees!

An increasing number of cities will now charge you extra if you want a bag at all, due to regulations enacted on behalf of the environment.

I think the environmental benefits of an e-reader compared to paper are negligible until you read enough e-books. One of my friends was given an early Kobo model but she never liked it. She reads all the time, just in paper. As far as I know, that Kobo is just gathering dust.

[ProfCrash]

Many of the bag laws were passed because of plastic bags ending up in water ways, along the road, and other places. They were as much about littering as protecting the environment.

[denydias]

I've read the entire thread, which raises a very interesting question. As usual it doesn't comes to an answer... Not a fail from the posters tough. Nobody knows this answer for sure, never will and the ones that says they do know fails on the light of the ages passing by. It looks more like this:

Spoiler:

That being said, I think the deal is far beyond readers vs. paperback environmental efficiency. The deal, imho, is the human scale, being the scale the headcount.

[wizwor]

Originally Posted by meeera

There have been environmental impact studies, and as far as the manufacture of the ereader goes (which is by far the greatest share of its impact), you "break even" after maybe 30-50 books, depending on your assumptions.

The problem, as I said, is not with manufacturing. Manufacturing can be controlled. Disposal cannot. And it's not the persistent plastics that end up in landfills -- it's the metals and chemicals that end up in the food chain.

All these studies pit some mythical e-reader against a prototypical library of books, but anyone who reads these forums KNOWS that people who own e-readers own LOTS of e-readers.

So, yes, there is environmental impact to the creation of an e-reader that can be compared to the impact of creating a book. Yes, there is environmental impact to the delivery of an e-reader that can be compared to the environmental impact of delivering a book. You might even dare to compare the use of a reading light to the powering of an e-reader and the network infrastructure to support it. BUT, when you send a book to a landfill, it just goes away. That's never true for an e-reader. Eventually, someone is going to eat or bathe in the toxic residue of the e-reader.

There are certainly worse things for the environment than e-readers, but books are not on that list.