Turning over an old leaf

Only 24 books are produced for every tree felled. But book-swapping websites could provide a solution for the eco-aware reader.



Guardian blogger Charlotte Northedge reports in The Guardian on 1 May, 2008.



The cover is creased and the edges slightly curling, but otherwise The Memory Keeper's Daughter is in surprisingly good condition for a book that has travelled more than 1,000 miles and been through seven pairs of hands.
"I don't bother about creases on the cover or the spine," says Wendy Evans, 48, the seventh and current owner of Kim Edwards' novel, which has travelled from Preston to Leicester via Glasgow and Dorset before landing on her doorstep in Sheffield. "I do object to food residue, but this one's in pretty good nick."


Evans has exchanged 135 books through ReadItSwapIt.co.uk since last August. "It's addictive," she says. "I can try out authors I wouldn't normally read and I don't feel guilty if I give up halfway. I'm not paying for the book, and I'm not throwing it away after I've read it or leaving it to gather dust on a shelf."

For eco-aware readers, the environmental benefits of swapping rather than buying are clear. In 2003, Greenpeace launched its book campaign, producing evidence that the UK publishing industry was inadvertently fuelling the destruction of ancient forests in Finland and Canada. It found that one Canadian spruce produces just 24 books, which means that if you get through one book every two weeks your reading habits destroy almost one large tree every year. (In the same year, Greenpeace persuaded Raincoat Books to produce the Canadian edition of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix on recycled paper, saving an estimated 39,000 trees.) But despite the campaign, only 40% of the UK book industry has introduced paper with a high level of recycled content, largely choosing to use paper certified by the Forest Stewardship Council instead.
Read Charlotte's full essay here.