Reader’s opinion|The buyer of a paper book can rest assured: the book will not cause deforestation anywhere in the world.
Arla Kanerva wrote (HS 16.9.), that printing books consumes large amounts of precious wood.
According to the forest industry, 75,000 A4-sized sheets of paper are produced from a cube of wood. A cube of wood is equivalent to about one log. Rough calculation: one tree produces 1,200 books of 250 pages, A5 size. However, comparing it to log wood is misleading, as logs are not used to make paper. Fiberwood is used for this, which is obtained from small thinning trees and is left over when logs are processed into wood products.
The certifications, FSC and PEFC, ensure sustainable forest management. The EU also strictly regulates paper products. The soon-to-be-enforced deforestation regulation further ensures that the buyer of a paper book can rest assured: the book will not cause deforestation anywhere in the world – not in Finland, not in the EU region, and not in rainforests. The forest regenerates and the trees grow, paper is not the forest’s enemy.
The carbon footprint of a printed book includes the production process of the book, not just the paper used for it. In Sweden, a book’s carbon footprint has been compared: a book’s footprint is equivalent to seven kilos of potatoes, a kilo of bananas or a four-kilometer car ride. No banana or potato is reused. Books have a long life cycle, and they also act as carbon storage.
Will the world be saved by digital? It sounds like an easy and ecological solution. Digital services consume a lot of energy and materials, including mineral resources. When the book conveniently appears on your device, the servers and data centers are consuming energy in the background. Music Listening has calculated that if you listen to a song more than 27 times, it is more environmentally sustainable to buy a physical copy. In the digital world, the use of the product causes emissions and generates electronic waste – its recycling rate is low compared to paper.
Could we rather think that printed books continue the life of the precious tree, in a new and precious form – as a book.
Suvi Oinonen
union leader
Graphic Industry Association
The reader’s opinions are speeches written by HS readers, which are selected and delivered by the HS editors. You can leave an opinion piece or familiarize yourself with the principles of writing at the address www.hs.fi/kiryotamielipidekeisuis/.
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