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. 

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 17, 2007)