Groups of scrap collectors are a common sight around colleges
and universities in Beijing, the China Youth Daily
reported on April 10. A veteran of the trade spoke of the ease of
buying old textbooks and waste paper from students at a low price
and reselling it at a profit. "Textbooks and paper here in these
comparatively concentrated and fixed trading places are usually of
good quality and in large quantity," he said. "I usually go two or
three times a day by tricycle, and even more around graduation time
in July."
In China, the paper is recycled through paper mills and returns
to the schools as new textbooks. In theory, this could be seen as
energy-saving but the reality is very different.?
Teachers from the
Lianhuapen Middle School, Qingzhou City of Shandong Province place books on the shelf for
cyclical use.
Statistics from the General Administration of Press and
Publication (GAPP) show China used up 5.24 million tons of paper
last year, up 7.9 percent on 2004, with 11.38 percent of this used
for textbooks. Textbooks are being printed more than ever before
and their prices lead all book charts. However, among 4,858 kinds
of textbooks registered, only 1,676 kinds are first editions.
Professor Zhu Yongxin, former president of Suzhou University and
a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's
Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), called for the cyclical
use of textbooks during the annual session of CPPCC in early
March.
"The number of Chinese students currently in their nine-year
compulsory education period stands at 177.74 million. If calculated
at 2,500 grams of textbook paper per student per year, more than
450,000 tons of paper are needed annually, or the felling of 9
million trees. If half of all textbooks could be reused for three
to five years, this would lead to a vast saving of trees and
energy."
The cyclical use of textbooks in China has not become popular
due to consumers' attitudes. A premise of free consumption is that
everybody likes to buy new books that feel good. Parents often do
not consider the environmental problem, labeling it an issue for
the government to sort out.
According to Prof. Zhu Yongxin, re-using textbooks over a period
of years has been comprehensively implemented in many countries.
For example, in the United States and Australia, textbooks are
considered school property and carefully maintained while in the
UK, the process of printing them on recycled paper is far
more-energy saving.
China faces some particular problems in implementing these.
First, textbooks are centrally produced by the Xinhua Bookstore
with slight changes each year. For example, the 2006 edition of
Information and Technology has larger font and more illustrations
making it rise to 250 pages, from 210 in 2005. This means that
schools will have trouble recycling older versions of
textbooks.
Pan Wennian, a publishing expert from Anhui University, said
that recycling textbooks would act against the interests of
publishing houses. Given the profits made by the latter on yearly
textbook sales, a nationwide policy shift towards cyclical usage
would deprive them of a regular source of income.
Pan suggested that renting textbooks could be effective by
providing an easily-implemented and energy-saving alternative.
(China.org.cn by Li Jingrong, April 16, 2007)
