PaperlessKitchen Blog

The Paperless Future of Textbooks

Textbooks are an important part of learning in schools and colleges, but they are also a significant consumer of paper. In many subjects, particularly scientific fields, new editions are released annually, so students cannot even opt for used books to conserve paper.

    One company, Trunity, is seeking to reduce the amount of paper used for textbook printing while helping educators access timely, useful material for their classes. The company has developed a cloud platform and has uploaded articles and other resources that schools and universities can access by paying a fee per class. New information is constantly being added with older information regularly updated and removed when needed.

    Trunity is not the only company interested in taking textbooks paperless. Several major textbook publishers, including McGraw Hill, now offer electronic versions of popular titles. Not only are the electronic versions greener, but they're also less expensive. In some cases, the e-books cost only one-third of the paper versions.

    If you're a college student, check out the electronic options for textbooks as the new semester gets underway. While not all titles are available in e-book format, the number is increasing rapidly.