Carbon Footprint for Newspapers ?

Random cocktail discussion lead to interesting discussion on the environmental impact of newspapers vs new technology such as Kindle

I've not been able to find much on it. Can anyone shed any light on the carbon footprint of newspapers.

 

No idea, but I'd imagine it's got to be pretty substantial. First, there's all the trees you chop down for the paper. Then you've got the delivery vehicles puttering around town a few hours each day. Reporters are going places and driving, or staying in the office and running up the electric bill. The press uses a ton of electricity, which means more coal.

Not trying to turn this into a political discussion, but if Obama and the Democratic congress pass new laws to cut our carbon output, will that finally drive the stake in the industry's heart? Newspapers don't pollute as much as other industries. We don't have smokestacks belching thick black smoke. But we do our fair share in an indirect way.

 

We try just as hard as those other industries, dammit!

 

If Obama's batshit insane cap-and-trade goes thru it will put a stake thru the hearts of a lot of industries.

 

I had assumed that newpapers were printed on 100 % recycled paper.

 

Newspapers account for 14 percent of waste in landfills by volume and are the largest single item in landfills. We may not be spewing coal ash into the air, but it's also not exactly a green industry.

 

Didn't even think about where all the dead papers go, but I never claimed it was a green industry.

 

Newsprint can be recycled, no?

 

Exactly. So whose fault is it that they're going in the landfill?

 

About 70 percent of it is, but that leaves 30 percent still going to the landfill.