REAL LIFE NEWS: REUSABLE PAPER PRINTED WITH WATER
by Hazed
Whatever happened to the paperless office? Thirty years ago, the invention of computers was supposed to mean we could stop moving pieces of paper around and instead have all our info in digital form. Instead, it’s just created even huger piles of the stuff as we print out all our emails and reports. What a waste of trees.
Recycling paper goes some way towards addressing the problem but it’s not 100% efficient – not every office recycles their printouts so still a huge amount of paper ends up in landfill.
Now scientists have come up with something that might solve the problem once and for all: reusable paper. What’s more, it also means you can throw away the expensive inkjet cartridge for your printer and replace it with one filled with water.
The invention is paper that has been treated with water-sensitive dye. The inkjet printer prints with plain water to produce the image, which then fades in about a day, leaving the paper blank so it can be used again. Perfect for documents that you would otherwise print, read and throw away.
Right now, the system doesn’t allow normal four-colour printing because the dye only prints in blue, magenta, gold and purple – and each sheet of paper can only be printed in one colour at a time. But for reports, memos, emails printed out to read on the train and so on, you wouldn’t need more than one colour.
While the chemical treatment makes the paper more expensive than ordinary paper, using water instead of ink in your print cartridge will make the overall cost much cheaper, says one of the Chinese-American collaborators who have developed this system.
The next step is to come up with a printer that will pre-heat the paper, erasing the previous printing as it is used, rather than having to wait a day for the ink to fade.
This sounds like an excellent innovation – although the printer manufacturers must be sweating at the thought of no longer being able to charge eye-watering prices for their ink cartridges.
Source: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/01/30/boffins_demo_treatedpaper_mono_printing/
