Why Digital Coloring Is Better for the Planet

Every April, Earth Day is a good reminder to look at the small, everyday choices that shape the health of our planet. We think about the food we eat, the products we buy, the energy we use. But here's one that doesn't come up as often: how we color.

Coloring has had a massive resurgence in recent years, both as a mindful activity for adults and a creative outlet for kids. And while reaching for a physical coloring book feels natural and familiar, it comes with a real environmental cost that's easy to overlook.

The (Environmental) Cost of Traditional Coloring Books

Traditional coloring books seem harmless enough. But at scale, the numbers add up. The global coloring book market is worth billions of dollars, with millions of physical books printed every year. Each one requires paper sourced from trees, ink and dyes that involve chemical manufacturing, plastic-wrapped pencils and markers that end up in landfills, and packaging that is rarely recyclable. All before it's even shipped to a store or your door.

And then there's the waste on the other end. Most coloring books are only partially completed before they're set aside or thrown away. The pages you never got to? They still cost the planet. Markers dry out. Pencils wear down to stubs. Very little of it can be recovered or reused.

What Is Digital Coloring?

Digital coloring means using a tablet or smartphone to color illustrations in a dedicated app - no paper, no pencils, no physical waste of any kind.

Apps like Lake for iPad bring the same meditative, satisfying experience of coloring into the digital world, with zero physical materials consumed. You can color thousands of illustrations, experiment with unlimited color palettes, undo any mistake, and start over on any page as many times as you like - all without producing a single gram of waste.

Why We Think Lake Is a Sustainable Choice (Yes, We're Biased)

We'll be upfront: Lake is our app, so take this section with that in mind. That said, we do think the environmental case for it is genuine, and here's why.

Lake is a coloring app for iPad and iPhone with a growing library of illustrations from independent artists around the world. From a sustainability standpoint, a few things stand out to us:

Zero physical waste. No paper, no ink, no plastic, no packaging. Your environmental footprint from coloring drops to near zero.

One device, thousands of pages. Instead of buying new coloring books regularly, Lake gives you access to thousands of illustrations on a device you already own.

Color the same drawing as many times as you want. Every illustration can be reset and recolored endlessly, so there's no need to buy a new book just to start fresh.

No shipping emissions. Physical coloring books are manufactured, warehoused, and shipped - often internationally. Digital coloring eliminates that supply chain entirely. The only thing traveling is data.

Direct support for independent artists. This one matters to us. Lake shares revenue with the artists whose work appears in the app - every time someone colors an illustration, that artist receives a portion of the profits. It's a model we're proud of, and one that feels more sustainable for the creative community too, not just the planet.

Digital vs. Traditional Coloring: A Quick Comparison

A More Mindful Way to Color

Sustainability doesn't always require big changes. Sometimes it's about choosing the digital option over the physical one - especially when the experience is just as good, if not better.

If you're already using an iPad for everyday things, adding a coloring app to your routine is a low-effort, high-impact swap. And Lake isn't the only app worth knowing about in this space. There are several other iPad apps that follow a similar logic: useful, sustainable, and making the most of a device you already have.

We covered some of them in our previous article, including apps like GoodNotes and Procreate - in our roundup of the best iPad apps of 2026.