Schools to save 1.27 million trees with book exchange project

Speaking to Today’s Zaman, Öztürk said Germany, Austria, the US, Canada, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, England, France, Hungary, Italy, Spain, Japan, Korea and China were applying the same or a similar method at their schools, adding that it was very wise for Turkey to implement this project. The project is also expected to save 307 million kilowatt hours of electricity and 29 million tons of water. Every year 155 million books are distributed to students in Turkey, and most of these books are thrown into the trash at the end of the year. The cost of these books to the public is YTL 1 billion annually. The number of students at primary and high schools was 14 million last year, and this number is estimated to exceed 15 million next year.

Öztürk said 50 percent of the paper used to publish textbooks is imported, costing $750 million annually, so implementing this project will also be beneficial for Turkey’s economy. The Ministry of Education will continue to provide books for students, but they will not belong to the students, so they will give the books back to the school administration at the end of the year. The project aims to reduce annual book publishing for primary and high schools by 90 percent.

Öztürk emphasized that Turkey’s aim should be to produce paper from recycled paper instead of trees, adding, “We should not forget the fact that used paper is not trash, but a valuable raw material, if recycled.”