General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Tampa Bay Times Bill Maxwell laments "slow death of bookstores." I'm with him on that. [View all]MadHound
(34,179 posts)The resources that go into an ereader aren't. Rare earths, heavy metals, plastic, all materials that are non-renewable, and in many cases an environmental hazard.
Now if we look at other electronic gadgets, we will get a good idea of how ereaders are going to be treated. Consumers purchase a new cell phone approximately every eighteen months, a new computer every three years. Not because their old electronics died, but because they had to have the latest and greatest. That trend is going to continue with ereaders.
Furthermore, the recycle rate of these electronics is atrocious, approximately eight percent of devices are recycled. The rest are left rotting in our landfills, leaching toxic chemicals into our environment.
Now what about books? Their environmental impact is minimal. The amount of energy used, and pollution generated per book is much less than an ereader. Furthermore, as I said above, virtually everything that goes into a book is renewable. Recycling books is a much higher percentage than ereaders, mainly because people already recycle paper and such. Finally, even if a book is tossed into the trash, it breaks down into wood pulp and soy oil, certainly not biohazards.