Ask Leo And Lucy

Should we switch to reading books online?

E-books may sound more eco-friendly than the paper variety, but there's a sting in the online tale, says Lucy Siegle
  • The Observer,
  • Jump to comments ()

A certain amount of eco-guilt now stalks the nation's bookshelves. This has been stoked by the emergence of e-books, notably the Kindle, enticing us to turn virtual pages in the name of the planet. A 2003 study by US academic Greg Kozak found that printed books (in this case textbooks) took three times more raw materials and 78 times more water than their e-book rivals to produce.

But bear in mind that the huge use of energy by data centres is often left out of the equation. If your e-reading is powered by a data centre that's powered by a coal-fired power station, then your e-book emissions will be sky high.

E-book enthusiasts will usually retort that at least they're not wilfully chopping down trees.

But should a traditional reader feel so bad?

Calculations suggest a decent-sized tree provides 942 1lb books (the weight of the average book). If the publisher uses recycled paper, that means even more book for your tree.

But admittedly this is to gloss over the fact that, globally, millions of books are printed each year in advance of sales and then pulped (printing on demand, such as by in Peterborough, is the antidote to this). And yes, if you add in waste, glues, inks, transport, etc, each book generates around 4kg of CO2.

From Kindle to kindling. I met a woman recently who used pre-loved paperbacks in lieu of firewood. Censorship/protest notwithstanding, this is a bad idea. There is toxicity through inks and plasticised covers and given the embodied energy in a book, a regular piece of firewood gives a far more efficient energy input/output ratio. It's probably better to put them back on the wall as insulation.

Some libraries accept book donations - dependent on condition - but it can be trying to offload paper-backs. Read International ( distributes textbooks in the developing world.

But don't "dump" non-saleable old books on small charities; they could end up being charged for their disposal.

Oxfam is different.

It has become Europe's biggest second-hand bookseller. Some 40% of the 100,000 books sorted through at the Bookbarn in Huddersfield each week aren't saleable, so they are recycled. Every now and then there's a gem that goes to auction. But Oxfam's success has led it to be dubbed "the Tesco of the book industry" by independent booksellers who claim they are being pushed out of business. While you have to sympathise, it's argued that Tesco is the Tesco of the book trade, since supermarkets have accumulated 12% of the book trade and changed the nature of book sales.

Besides, Oxfam's goal (quite apart from raising money for the poverty relief coffers) is important, attempting to divert some 7m books estimated to end up in UK landfill each year - the definition of dead wood.

Today's best video

Today in pictures

More from Ask Leo & Lucy
