Going Carbon Neutral by Amy Allen
I’m a geography graduate whose dissertation was investigating consumers’ knowledge of sustainability impacts of the fashion industry. When Mama Makes Books asked me to help them decide what measures they should take to start their business off on the right carbon footing, I was delighted; interested to learn about sustainability within a different industry.
What is carbon footprint?
Carbon footprint is the accumulated greenhouse gas emissions of any given action – in this case the carbon footprint is all greenhouse gas emissions throughout the process of designing the book to reaching the customer.
Fashion vs Publishing
The UK publishing industry is worth £6.4 billion, very small compared to the UK fashion industry, which is currently worth £62.2 billion. They both produce items deemed as necessities and the products also bring joy and satisfaction. However, the realities of climate change and the environmental impact of industrial and economic growth is something that both businesses and consumers have to face.
The fashion industry currently stands as the second highest industrial polluter in the world, accounting for 10% of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) which is more than both aviation and shipping industries combined! With an increase in a ‘throw away’ culture fuelling overconsumption and overproduction, it’s shocking, yet not surprising, that 1.2 billion tonnes of carbon emissions are released by the fashion industry every year. The carbon footprint of the fashion industry is largely down to waste, however CO2 emissions during manufacturing and production are also key components. Not to mention other environmental impacts such as water pollution from chemical dyes and microfibres, it’s safe to say wearing new fashion items is a ‘high-carbon’ activity.
Reading is a low-carbon activity
Comparatively, reading books is a low-carbon activity. A typical paperback book accounts for 1kg of carbon dioxide, so you could read a lifetime of paperbacks (2,300 to be exact) for the same carbon footprint as a flight from London to Hong Kong! The biggest influences of carbon emissions in the industry lie in the transportation and paper production stages. According to the IPG’s Book Journey Project, manufacturing an average book produces 4,900g of CO2 emissions. To put that in perspective, that’s equivalent to an average 17-mile car journey.
The transportation of books releases tonnes of emissions, yet shipping is a far greener option than air freight or overland transportation. Of course, distance is a major factor, and printing locally with short overland journeys to distributor or customer is by far the greenest option.
The felling of trees for books is an environmental concern, not only as it stops the sequestration of CO2 (locking it in so it can no longer react) but creates loss of habitats and ecosystems. Paper production uses a lot of water, energy consumption and emits tonnes of CO2. However, industrial, political and social pressures are driving change and developments in technology have increased energy efficiency and research into more sustainable solutions.
Both the publishing and fashion industries have complex supply chains, which creates difficulties in monitoring and managing carbon emissions. However, they have and continue to introduce more sustainable solutions.
What did we do and where did we start?
It was always Mama Makes Book’s aim to be a carbon neutral company, and they had commissioned a carbon assessment by sustainability consultant Sheena Brockie, keen to understand their environmental impact in 2021. With this report, we were able to see both impact and the key challenges in reducing carbon footprint.
A Carbon neutral company
Carbon neutral, or Net Zero Carbon, is a term used where carbon emissions of a company (or person, service, product etc) have been balanced between emitting carbon and absorbing carbon from the atmosphere.
The most popular method used by companies is through carbon offsetting, which usually involves funding an equivalent amount of carbon savings elsewhere in the world. There are debates around the effectiveness of these programme. It is widely understood as a positive action to take but only after more important steps are taken – such as switching to green energy and transportation, eradicating waste and single-use plastics, and using reusable/recyclable packaging and products.
Children, education and the planet are key values and pillars for Mama Makes Books, so it made sense to fund a project that aligned with those values. We agreed on donating and supporting the Woodland Trust. It is the UK’s largest woodland conservation charity and they give free trees to schools with advice on how to plant and care for them. The amount Mama Makes Books donated –£9 per tonne of CO2 – matches what they would have paid for a carbon off-setting programme.
What I learned
With no prior knowledge of the publishing industry, I certainly learnt a lot! Here are just a few interesting facts:
1. It is prohibitively expensive to print full-colour children’s books in the UK, and not possible for board books and books that need handwork, so most children’s publishers print these kinds of books in Asia.
2. According to the Independent Publisher’s Guild Book Journey’s project, waste only contributes to 0.03% to overall emissions, largely due to well-established re-use and recycling of carboard and wood pallets. Books also have a long life and most are re-used, recycled and biodegradable.
3. There are several arguments around how ‘green’ e-books are. The impact of a Kindle is 168kg of CO2 and therefore to offset the impact of an e-reader device the owner needs to read 33 e-books of 360 pages each. So, if you’re a bookish person, an e-book is something to consider, yet unlike a book, an e-book consumes energy and like with all modern technology there are constantly new modules being released, leading to overconsumption and consequently toxic waste. Lastly, if paper books are assumed to be reused, which many are, they have a longer life than e-books, which are harder, if not impossible, to share/swap. (Source: Cleantech Group) (Source: Royal Institute of Technology of Sweden)
Recommendations for Mama Makes Books to reduce their environmental impact in 2022
1. Conserve energy. Manage energy efficiently in the work place.
2. Recycle and reuse. Continue to recycle all plastic and paper waste and reuse packaging.
3. Measure and management. Continue to measure environmental and carbon footprint and keep up-to-date with sustainable practices and environmental concerns related to the industry
4. Green printing and closer to home. Use green-minded printers with FSC certification, closer to home if possible.
How we can be more sustainable readers
A saying heard a lot is “Collective small steps make a huge difference.” The book industry has some changes to make, yet we as readers can also make some changes in being more sustainable:
1. Stay local. Purchase books from your local bookshop and use your local library more.
2. Share the stories. Once you have read your book, donate to a charity or give to another family member or friend.
3. Read! Reading can boost awareness and teaches us about issues such as climate change. Share books with your children that encourage them and inspire them to learn about looking after our planet.