Mythbuster: Print and Paper

Paper is one of the world’s truly sustainable products. Despite the growth of digital media, print remains a powerful and highly effective platform for communication and advertising. It has a unique ability to capture attention, engage audiences, and hold their focus in ways that digital media often cannot.

Go Paperless”, “Go Green”, “Go Digital” and “Save Trees” are common messages seen these days as many organisations encourage their customers to switch to electronic transactions and communications. But are these appeals based on fact?

Such messages imply that electronic communication is more environmentally friendly than traditional, paper-based communication, yet it is difficult to make such a statement without considering the full lifetime of those different mediums.

Paper is a uniquely renewable and sustainable product.

The raw material, wood, is grown and harvested in a sustainable way – in fact European forests, where most of the raw material comes from, have grown by an area the size of Switzerland in just 15 years.[1]

Paper is one of the most recycled products in the world.

It goes through a renewable lifecycle from sourcing, to manufacturing, to recycling, and can be reused up to seven times before finally being made into toilet paper, tissue and paper towels.

Yet the myths around paper still persist. A 2019 survey by Two Sides revealed 59% of European consumers believe European forests are shrinking, when in fact they have been growing by an area equivalent to 1500 football pitches every day. A third of consumers believe paper is a wasteful product and a quarter believe paper is bad for the environment. Often the source of these misconceptions is the abundance of misleading information about paper, and its impact on the environment.

Electronic communication also has environmental impacts.

The impacts from our ever-increasing digital world cannot be ignored. The ICT industry accounts for around 2.5-3% of global greenhouse gas emissions, around the same amount as the airline industry, and this is predicted to rise to 14% by 2040. By comparison, the contribution of the pulp, paper, and printing industries to the global greenhouse gas inventory is just about 1%.

Businesses and individuals are increasingly relying on cloud services, with massive data centres storing nearly all of our online activities, from web searches to social media posts and photos.

The rapid growth of AI, which demands far more computing power and energy than typical online activities, has sparked concerns about its environmental impact. In 2023, Google’s greenhouse gas emissions were 48% higher than in 2019, primarily driven by the rising energy consumption of its AI-powered data centres.

The electronic waste problem is also colossal and growing. In 2019, the industry was responsible for a gigantic 53.6 million metric tonnes (Mt) of e-waste across the world. That’s equivalent to the weight of 350 cruise ships. E-waste is expected to increase to 74.7 Mt by 2030 and reach as much as 110 Mt by 2050, unless we change our practices.[2]

In 2019, just 17% of global e-waste was collected for recycling (42.5% in Europe).[2] Recycling activities are not keeping pace with the global growth of e-waste. Raw materials from digital equipment, servers and power generators are often finite, precious and non-renewable, as well as being notoriously difficult to recycle.

What should you choose – Digital or Printed Media?

There is no right answer! Both are highly effective communication media channels and there is increasing interaction between them. Both print and digital media are effective. Choose based on needs, preferences, and avoid misleading environmental claims about sustainability.

Paper has been the preferred communications medium for over 2000 years. Even in today’s digital world, it continues to be highly effective and, produced, used and disposed of responsibly; it is inherently eco-friendly, and one of the worlds most sustainable products.

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1. Two Sides Analysis of FOA Data 2005-2020. 2. Global Transboundary E-waste Flows Monitor, 2022