Paper vs digital

Paper comes from trees, digital products use rare earth metals…

Paper can be recycled, but digital products theoretically exist forever.

Paper also has the potential to end up as landfill, digital products do not.

When many orgs attempt to reduce their environmental impact, one of the first things they think to do is go paperless, and move any of their publications to digital form… but have you ever wondered what the impact of paper vs digital really is?

This article over at except.eco compares reading a 20-page document in printed form vs digital form, and considers everything from the tree to the emissions generated in creating the printing press.

The conclusion?

Honestly it’s a bit 🤯 there’s a lot of stuff in there… Which is actually a pretty good representation of how emissions calculations are done by auditors.

The actual conclusion, which you may have guessed, is “it depends” 😁

There are so many variables, that it’s almost impossible to determine which one categorically has the lower impact.

The article does highlight some interesting aspects of both print and digital that can be easily overlooked – worth a read of that sounds interesting, but it may not necessarily clarify which way to go for your next publication project.