Kobo says its eco-reader is the first of many

The new Kobo Clara 2E e-reader is made from 85% recycled plastic, and the company says all of its future devices will be made from recycled materials.

“It is our intention to implement it with future devices if we can keep quality where it is,” Erin Ierullo, senior manager of global communications at Kobo, told Tech Advisor at IFA 2022 in Berlin.

Of that recycled plastic, Kobo said 10% was sent to the ocean, and that making the Clara 2E would save 200,000 plastic water bottles from the world’s oceans — a figure derived by estimating how many e-book units will be produced this year.

Many technology companies are becoming more environmentally conscious. Fairphone only sells green smartphones, and HMD just announced a new subscription plan that encourages people to use their phones longer.

“This is our first attempt at doing this because we didn’t want to do it until we could make sure the devices were up to the Kobo standard, which we really appreciate,” Yerullo said of the eco-movement.

“Now it’s nothing special, it’s the standard, you have to do it.”

“Customer feedback is one of the most important things we listen to,” said Kobo Senior Manager Victoria Cacioppo. “This is what we’ve heard in the past and the voices are getting louder.”

The Clara range is a step up from the budget Nia in the Kobo line. The new Clara 2E for $129.99/£129.99/€149.99 has the same design as the latest generation model, but with the addition of full waterproofing and audiobook support, features that until now have only been found in more expensive models. Kobos like Libra 2 and Sage.

Cacioppo said the company is also providing long-term software support for much older devices to discourage people from upgrading. She also said that future Kobo products will have improved maintainability.

The Clara 2E looks like a great competitor to the latest Amazon Kindle Paperwhite, a product that received a rare five-star rating from Tech Advisor.

I prefer the Kobo software which is less cluttered than the Amazon software. Other touches, such as swiping up or down the left side of the screen while reading a book to adjust the backlight, are also smart and intuitive and mean you don’t have to open multiple menus.

Despite the Clara 2E’s new features, Ierullo insisted that Kobo wants its products to be distraction-free, and certainly no email support or push notifications are planned anytime soon.

“When you’re reading, it’s non-distraction reading, we don’t want to do too much with it…reading is the core of what Kobo does, so we like to stay close to it.”

You can pre-order the Kobo Clara 2E from Kobo right now. It will go on sale September 22.