This Reusable Paper Saves Trees and Prints Using Ultraviolet Light

[Omaha Steve]

(Photo: Yadong Yin/University of California, Riverside)

http://www.takepart.com/article/2014/12/17/rewritable-paper-saves-trees?cmpid=tpenviro-eml-2014-12-20-paper

A group of scientists is developing a material that could reduce deforestation and chemical pollution.

December 17, 2014 By Kristina Bravo

Kristina Bravo is Assistant Editor at TakePart.


Scientists are redefining what it means to go paperless.

Researchers at the University of California, Riverside, have been working on an alternative to traditional paper that can be printed on and erased more than 20 times. Its low-cost production could help reduce waste, deforestation, and chemical pollution, according to chemistry professor Yadong Yin, who copublished a paper on the design in Nature.

“If we are comparing the rewritable paper to conventional ones, it has the advantages of being more economical, environmental, and energy friendly,” he said. “It can be produced at about the same cost as regular paper and does not require additional inks for printing.”

Ultraviolet light is used to print on the rewritable “paper,” which is a thin plastic film coated in nontoxic dye. Heat it up to 115 degrees Celsius, and the text will disappear.

FULL story at link.

[jtuck004]

1. Good idea. Wonder what the manufacturing brings us from the "paper"?

Always trade-offs, but this might well be a good one. And they are likely to improve on that lifespan.

Now if they can make it in yellow legal-lined pads...

Thank you.

[PoliticAverse]

2. I have something even more reusable for print. It's an LCD monitor. n/t

[Warpy]

3. Try HEMP

Legal hemp could knock out the wood pulp industry overnight, causing them to export their product to places like China and Japan, where arable land is at a premium.

Hemp also contributes fiber for textiles and hemp oil for many applications we now use petroleum for. It can be recycled and reused and biodegrades when the possibilities are exhausted.

My own contribution to less paper is using a tablet for book downloads. Now if I could only talk the companies I own stock in to going paperless. I really don't need yearly glossy magazines telling me how great they are. I'd rather they spend the money paying labor.

[hunter]

4. I'd buy a mess of this paper today as an art material.

Reusable Sunprints!

http://www.sunprints.org