#BOOKS4OURFUTURE

Over 2 Million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent is produced in making all the books we throw away every year. While they are decaying in landfills or in the environment, they produce about 60 thousand tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent gasses.

Approximately 2.2 billion new titles are printed worldwide each year. In the UK, approximately 150 million books are printed each year (both new titles and reprints).

Globally, it’s estimated that about 400 million books are dumped in landfills each year. This number reflects the widespread issue of unsold or discarded books being treated as waste rather than being recycled or repurposed.

The impact of discarded books on the climate has two damaging aspects.
1. On an average, an equivalent of 5 kg of carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere in making a book. So, the 400 million books discarded every year, accounts for nearly 2M tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent released into the atmosphere. These could have been put to better use rather than discarding them, given that the damage to the environment their production has already caused.

2. Paper creates around 1.3 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, with about a third of that amount coming from its disposal in our landfills, worldwide. Decaying paper releases 25-50% of its weight in carbon dioxide equivalent. This means that if an average book weighs around 0.3 kg (for a standard paperback), the carbon dioxide equivalent emissions from one book could be roughly up to 0.15 kg. So for the 400M books discarded worldwide, approximately 60 thousand tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent is released into the atmosphere.

Note: Carbon dioxide equivalent is a unit of measurement that is used to standardise the climate effects of various greenhouse gases. In addition to the most important man-made greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide (CO₂), there are other greenhouse gases such as methane or nitrous oxide.

References
– https://isbndb.com/blog/how-many-books-are-in-the-world/
– https://nordsense.com/increasing-recycling-and-keeping-books-out-of-landfills-with-dream-books-co/
– https://recycled-papers.co.uk/green-matters/why-use-recycled-papers/reduce-landfill
– https://environment.yale.edu/news/article/powering-paper-recycling-with-fossil-fuels-hampers-climate-benefits-researchers-say