[photopress:school_textbooks.jpg,full,alignright]In China, the paper from used text books is recycled through paper mills and returns to the schools as new textbooks. In theory, this could be seen as energy-saving but the reality is very different.
Statistics from the General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP) show China used up 5.24 million tons of paper last year, up 7.9% on 2004, with 11.38% of this used for textbooks.
Textbooks are being printed more than ever before and their prices lead all book charts. However, among 4,858 kinds of textbooks registered, only 1,676 kinds are first editions.
Professor Zhu Yongxin, former president of Suzhou University and a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), said, ‘The number of Chinese students currently in their nine-year compulsory education period stands at 177.74 million. If calculated at 2,500 grams of textbook paper per student per year, more than 450,000 tons of paper are needed annually, or the felling of 9 million trees. If half of all textbooks could be reused for three to five years, this would lead to a vast saving of trees and energy.’
Of course, if China switched to a simple electronic digital reader then those trees would not die at all.
Pan Wennian, a publishing expert from Anhui University, said that recycling textbooks would act against the interests of publishing houses. Given the profits made by the latter on yearly textbook sales, a nationwide policy shift towards cyclical usage would deprive them of a regular source of income. Tough. Trees are more important than publishing profits. And digital readers are the way to go.
Source: China.org.cn