We have already started to see the proliferation of electronic paper in e-books (the Kindle, Sony Reader, at al.), but despite a great amount of hoopla circa 2004 (I confess, much of it contributed by yours truly), other e-paper applications have been slow to arrive. However, I did come across this story on MSNBC.com over the weekend on the subject of rewritable e-paper. In development in Taiwan and called i2R e-paper,

The product uses a thermal printer, the same kind as that used in fax machines. When the message is no longer needed, the paper can be erased with the flip of a switch -- ready to be used up to 260 times.

The story’s headline aggrieved me a bit: “Save a tree or two, use Taiwan erasable paper.” But what’s going to happen to the stuff after the 260 uses are up? How environmentally responsible is that? But I digress...

What makes the "i2R e-paper" stand out is its coating -- a plastic film covered with cholestric liquid crystal, a type of liquid crystal structured similarly to cholesterol molecules. The compound does not require a backlight to print, and can produce different colors. When connected to electricity, what's printed on the paper can be erased. There is also a modified printer that erases the paper by rolling it backwards.

The story goes on to say that an A4-size version is in production, and costs US$2. It’s an interesting idea, and whilst I am an e-paper fan in certain applications, I’m not certain that replacing a recyclable product made from a renewable resource with non-recyclable one that uses electricity produced (typically) from fossil fuels is a too much of an improvement. I’d need to know what the end-of-life options for this stuff would be. Come to think of it, it sounds like a high-tech version of those “Magic Slate” tablets we had as kids in the 1970s. (Do they still make those?) Or something akin to Etch-a-Sketch technology.