(Newswire.net — April 24, 2017) — The world is wasting paper and water. But we still need it, we always will, and the right balance is not too far away.
Why We Still Need Printing Services
The paper age is not dead. News of its demise has been greatly exaggerated, because we still rely on paper products and we will probably rely on paper products for generations to come. But why is that? Why do we have a love affair with paper and is it really going to cause problems in the future?
How Much Paper Do We Use?
The Sunday Edition of The Times requires 75,000 trees worth of paper. That’s a mighty load, but it’s decreasing, because less and less of us get our news from broadsheets and tabloids, which is why these newspapers are dying out. Around 85 billion kilos of paper are used every day in the United States, which is one of the world’s biggest consumers of this product.
It’s not just the paper that is the issue. The world is also in a water shortage, and it requires over 300 liters of water to make a single kilo of paper. If you focus on the stats, then it doesn’t look good. But we’re relying less and less on this substance and we’re heading towards a future where this much paper isn’t needed.
Why Do We Still Need It?
There are many things that can be replaced with digital versions. But there are many things that can not. And to make matters more complicated, of the things that can be replaced, including eBooks, it seems that we’re just not willing to make the transition.
A few years ago we had all but waved goodbye to paperback and hardback books. It was the age of the eBook and it was here to stay. But in 2015, things began to turn around. For the first time in many years, paperback sales increased, and this has continued since then. We still buy eBooks, but we’re also making a switch back to the real thing.
It seems that we just prefer to hold a real book in our hands and while it may be cheaper and more convenient to have a digital version of the book, it’s the experience that so many of us want and we just don’t get that with ebooks.
This “experience factor” is also holding many other transitions back. But even away from that, there are industries where digital solutions have yet to appear. For instance, printing companies like PsPrint.com make their money selling business cards, promotional materials and more. Their sales are increasing even in an age of emails, social media and other digital communication, and that’s because while an email and a social media post gets part of the message across, it can’t beat the feel of a well designed business card.
Will This Cause a Problem?
We’re not going towards a barren future with no trees, no nature and no hope. Far from it. Trees are being planted at a phenomenal rate, and we also recycle a lot of the paper that we use. We are better at recycling and replanting than we have ever been and this, combined with the fact that we use less wood for paper, is balancing things out a little.
Once eBooks begin to take over, and one we eliminate the need for billboards and posters (an area in which electronic is alway better) then paper consumption will decrease. It will continue to decrease when it becomes easier and just as cheap to buy an electronic note taking device as it is to buy a notepad. Of course, toilet paper is one of the biggest issues, but many homes are switching to Japanese-style toilets that clean with water and this seems to be the future, which means that toilet paper companies will likely die out within a couple decades.
When you consider that we’re also using more metals and plastics for our furniture, once we reach this stage it’s fair to assume that we will be planting and growing more trees than we are knocking down.
So, while we can not survive by using as much paper and wood as we once did, we can certainly survive in a world where we use only a marginal amount and where we look to replant everything that we take down. That’s the world we are heading towards, and it’s a far cry from the dystopian your science fiction books warned you about.