700 pound paper monkey on my back

Posted by CareBear on December 12, 2007 4:00 PM

So, I was cruising through Amazon.com minding my own business when I stumbled upon the 'Amazon Kindle', for those of you who haven't seen or heard of it, this is Amazon's new wireless electronic reading device. The device is about the size of an average paperback weighing under a pound and it gives the user online access to some 90,000 books, newspapers and magazines.

The reason the Kindle caught my eye was because, on a recent trip to my paper recycle bin, I was contemplating how much paper I use everyday, week, month etc. It's everywhere, news, product packaging, food packaging, even the paper I use at work is packaged in paper. I'm drowning in paper! An electronic device like this could potentially save a lot of wasted paper, but how much?

Well, I did some searching around and found some numbers. I was expecting a big impressive number and I found it, according to the Paper University website http://www.tappi.org/paperu/all_about_paper/faq.htm , "Every year, Americans use more than 90 million short tons of paper and paperboard. That's an average of 700 pounds of paper products per person each year. Every year in America, more than 2 billion books, 350 million magazines, and 24 billion newspapers are published."

Holy Crap! That is a lot of paper / trees. Anyway, back to the Kindle, if this thing or another device like it could be used often and by large a population of people it could really make an impact on paper usage. It sure would have other advantages as well like not having to search around used book stores for that book you've been looking to read or carrying around five or ten books for classes.

It's a bit pricey for me right now at $400 bucks but prices for this and other devices should fall in the near future. I don't know if this is going to be the answer for our paper usage woes but until we find it remember to keep sharing your old books finding your news online and look for your next read at the local used book store.

I'd love to hear some comments on paper saving techniques. :) Save a Tree :)

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Gadgets are fun and all and paper wastage is bad but paper is at least recyclable but the waste created by discarded computers and parts is pretty terrible. There's also the toxic byproducts of plastic creation to consider.

Gadgets to replace books seems to me like just another case of consumer culture being dictated by big corporations out to make another quick buck.