Cut Paper Waste with Electronic Subscriptions

If you have a lot of subscriptions or read a lot of books, e-readers and tablet computers like the iPad can eliminate paper waste.

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Photo: Richard Newstead / Getty Images

By Selene Aparicio

As stated by the Environmental Protection Agency, in the United States alone, over 2 billion books, 359 million magazines, and 24 billion newspapers are published every year and less than 50% of these products are recycled. Now, however, new devices such as e-readers like the Kindle and tablet computers like the iPad can help reduce paper waste while allowing us to have many of our favorite books and subscriptions at our fingertips.

This is especially true in terms of newspaper subscriptions. According to Ecologycenter.org, as of 1996, it takes 75,000 trees to print a Sunday edition of the New York Times. In addition, even if most of us took the time to recycle our newspapers, the recycling process still has an environmental impact from the energy used in the transportation of the paper and in the actual recycling process.

Many electronic readers cost $150 or less and hold up to 1,500 books' worth of content, including many newspaper and magazine subscriptions. Batteries last from three to 10 days depending on usage.

Particularly if you are an avid newspaper reader, it might be wise to invest in an e-reader and purchase an e-subscription to your favorite e-newspaper. After all, "e" can be a big part of "green".

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