(UPDATE: Today, Xerox released an official press release on this topic.)
The New York Times reported last week that Xerox is working to develop an "erasable paper" system. The goal is to recycle paper documents produced by a company’s copiers potentially an unlimited number of times.
How? Without getting too technical, the prototype system prints a purple ink on specially coated paper with a light yellow tint. The printed information on the document "disappears" within 16 hours. You can then load the paper back into the copier. The researchers said that individual pieces of paper had been printed on up to 50 times, and the only current limit in the process appears to be paper life according to the The Times.
Why? Of the 1,200 pages the average office worker prints per month, 44.5% are for daily use. 21% of black-and-white copier documents were returned to the recycling bin on the same day they were produced.
Xerox has not yet decided whether it will commercialize its technology, Mr. Shrader (Eric J. Shrader, a computer scientist at PARC) said, but the goal is to create a system where the specially coated paper costs between two and three times standard copier paper, making the total cost of the system substantially less than conventional paper when paper is reused repeatedly. (See full article.)
Discussion
By Dr Joe on Nov 27, 2006
Am I the only one who chuckled when I read this? Indigo had this problem with their regular product 10 years ago. Seybold took some playful shots at them, suggesting, I seem to remember, that the Nixon White House would have liked erasable documents. Heck, this could have put Fawn Hall out of a job in Ollie North's office! And just think... all that energy that was consumed using shredders! Why did XRX put out a press release about this? It certainly sounds like a trial balloon to see what reaction they get. The biggest competition this has is the computer screen. I assume they know that already and are looking to see if this is worth pursuing anyway.
By the Editors on Nov 27, 2006
Yes Dr. Joe. I think Nixon would have loved "disappearing" ink as would many publicly held companies :) We tried to find an official press release about this from Xerox, but it appears this was leaked or planned for the NYT to write a story and see what the feedback would be. As one commentator noted in the article, the technology may be a bit too late.
By richard dows on Dec 01, 2006
The problem with 'erasable' inks in a digital format is that someone, somewhere, is going to come up with a way to 'recover' past uses of the 'reusable' medium.
Discussion
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