Environmental Impacts of the Publishing Industry
5 06 2008So, I’m writing a research paper for one of my classes about the environmental impacts of the publishing industry, and here are some of the things I’ve learned.
The Publishing Industry’s Return Policy
Starting in the depression era, the industry established what is now an illogical practice: the return policy. While it made sense at the time, it now has bizarre repercussions. Basically, publishers are forced by this practice to put their books into bookstores on consignment, which has good and bad results. The good thing about this is that bookstores potentially take risks on books because they know they can just send the books back to the publisher if they don’t sell. The bad thing about this is that if bookstores ask for 10,000 books, but only sell 500, they send back the remainder to the publishers, which are then pulped, recycled, or destroyed. Yes it’s bad because this overprinting followed by a return has put publishers out of business in the past, but also — think about the environmental waste of all of this!
Recycled Paper and the Publishing Industry’s Carbon Footprint
In trying to research the return policy conundrum of the publishing industry, I was surprised by how little has been written about the wasteful practice. Most information that I’ve been able to find has been about the use of recycled paper and the carbon footprint of the publishing industry.
Here’s a little quote from The Exchange Online, the Newsletter of the Association of University Presses
“The U.S. book industry emits 12.4 million metric tons of carbon per year, or a net 8.85 pounds per book. Steps the industry is beginning to take to reduce this load include increasing the use of recycled or environmentally sustainable papers, reducing overproduction, and reducing office and plant energy use.”
And here’s a link to an interview with the Green Press Initiative’s Director
Several big publishing companies like Random House and Scholastic have made commitments to use more recycled paper, which is a step in the right direction, although reducing the wasteful attitude of “More, more, more” and “Profit is king,” would be more effective. (P.S. The latest Harry Potter book got a bit of press for being printed on recycled paper, did you hear?)
Print on Demand Kiosks
I don’t know how long it would take to make this dream a reality, but I’m excited about the idea of print-on-demand kiosks! Currently, printing on demand is used by those who want to self publish, or those who are publishing in small numbers, like for academic books. Think about the waste that this process would eliminate!
Here’s a link about a print on demand in action in Australia
And here’s an article about the print on demand kiosk for the New York Public Library
The Kindle
At first I thought the Kindle (those little digital reader thingies) might be a solution for reducing waste in the publishing industry, but now I’m not so sure. It seems like the Kindle would reduce paper waste, but then I could forsee plastic waste being an issue. Will people really want to read their books on digital screens in the future? To date it’s not been the success the industry predicted it would be…I guess we’ll just have to wait and see!!!
if people were to read books on computer screens, etc., wouldn’t that create other problems like the energy consumed powering the screen for hours and the emissions from the screen on one’s face? maybe they should start publishing books on a scrolling LED screen.