Computers Don’t Grow on Trees… But Paper Does!

When it comes to being ‘Green’, the electronics industry is quick to point the finger. Electronics giant Toshiba recently headed up a “National No-Print Day,” where it swiftly named the print industry as a major enemy of planet earth (placing itself as the obvious solution to paper’s evil ways.) Once again, printed materials find themselves as an easy scapegoat for the world’s environmental problems – as the “anti-tree medium.”

There’s so much wrong with this assumption, it’s hard to convey concisely. First, let’s take a quick look some facts about how the print and paper industries actually affect the earth and its forests each year:

• Paper production uses trees – it does not destroy forests
• The Paper industry plants more trees than they harvest every year
• Despite billions of sheets of paper produced, the US has 12 million more acres of forest land than it did 25 years ago
• Paper is highly recyclable, creating further economic growth through that industry – and acting as a minimal fraction of US landfill

In comparison, let’s take a quick look at how the electronics industry, and companies like Toshiba impact the earth and its limited resources:

• Electronics now make up the fastest growing part of the US waste stream
• More than 130,000 computers are discarded (not recycled) by Americans every single day
• Electronics sit in landfills for generations, taking up more and more space while leaching lead, mercury, and other toxic metals and chemicals into the soil
• In opposition to the solar energy that produces paper, electronics use a constant stream of electricity, primarily from fossil fuel, to power them each and every second they are in use

The truth is, we are all striving for the same goal: to become greener – and reduce our impact on the planet and its resources. So, let’s not be so quick to lay the blame Toshiba. While their intentions may have been good, the electronics industry is hardly in a position to point fingers about environmental impact…

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Source: National Association of Print Leadership