Paper wastage | Earthrise

Paper Wastage

In the modern day and age, most students would flinch at the mere idea of not having a textbook to study from. Having a mini-library at one's finger tips greatly aids the acquiring of knowledge and helps one study more efficiently. While Gutenberg's invention greatly improved education, the resulting ubiquity of books brought about the "use and throw" notion - a modern student would not think twice about throwing away a book if coffee were spilled on it.

Consequently, this raises the issue of paper wastage. In 2003, Greenpeace found that for every tree felled, only 24 books are produced. Deforestation, as a result of paper and book production, plays a direct role in the global warming. The increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere from emissions from factories and cars all around the world traps more heat from sunlight than before. Trees absorb and reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Deforestation reduces this healing effect of trees and therefore causes global warming.

Paper is a resource taken for granted by students, particularly in their senior years as they juggle multiple subjects with variable teaching methods. Often it is efficient to simply use reams of lined paper as opposed to workbooks to maximise efficiency and minimise the amount of books that need to be carried.

While usage of individual sheets can be highly effective, many students are unwilling to take advantage of both sides of the same sheet, despite its obvious environmental advantages. Using a pen that does not "bleed" through the page often improves legibility of double-sided sheets; making this option more appealing to students.

Similarly many students overlook the importance of scrap paper. As the design team of this website can attest, scrap paper is very useful for writing out any formal work in progress, planning assignments or repetitive "process" work, such as mathematics. Not only is this productive but it also helps minimise wastage of otherwise reusable paper.

You can do your part to reduce the impact of the production and use of books on the environment. We provide some simple solutions on how to do this.