“Books are frozen in time, yet in digital form, they can live in never-ending editions.”

– Jeff Jarvis, Open Web advocate.

Ultimately, responsible production and disposal processes for e-readers are necessary to ensure that more efficient energies emerge from the manufacture and utilisation of e-books. There is a need for more transparency from device manufactures such as Amazon, as only Apple currently releases data regarding the environmental impact of its iPad tablet. With more data and information available at hand, governments could place pressure on the manufacturers of e-readers to:

• Eliminate the use of toxic components
• Improve the recycling of e-readers
• Ensure suitable working conditions for the manufacture and disposal process of e-readers
• Make e-readers more energy efficient

At an individual level, all of us who own e-readers to read our ebooks on can adopt these 5 simple steps to lighten the environmental impact of our e-book reading as suggested here.