The experimental printing technology offers self-erasing paper printouts that fade away after only a day. The project builds on research that Xerox has done on developing compounds that change color when they are exposed to certain wavelengths of light.
According to Xerox, the color can decompose and disappear within a 16 to 24 hour range and then be reused.
PARC scientists are now developing print hardware that inks text and images onto the erasable paper. PARC said it is working on a prototype print machine that creates image using a lightbar technology that emits a special wavelength of light as a writing source.
Xerox said the technology could save companies on stationary costs since the paper can be re-used again and again to print out emails and other office documents that are often viewed once and then discarded or recycled.
Research by Xerox shows that over 40% of office printouts – or two out of every five pages printed in an office – are read only once and then binned, leading to waste.
Xerox said it has filed a patent for the technology but acknowledges it will be some time before it comes out with a commercially viable offering.
This will remain a research project for some time…but our experiments prove that it can be done, and that is the first step, said Eric Shrader, area manager of industrial inkjet systems at PARC, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Xerox.
Many IT pundits in the late 1980s and early 1990s predicted that office computer systems would lead to the paperless office. But clearly this has not happened. In fact printing has more than doubled since. Despite the prevalence of digital display formats there is still a strong preference by information workers to rely in printed paper matter to share and process information.
But Xerox’s erasable paper technology might signal the demise of the paper shredder and perhaps a greener earth through a significant reduction in paper use.
Other green print products being produced by Xerox includes a new solid ink printing technology that is purported to generate 90% less waste than comparable laser printers and a line of more energy-efficient copiers, printers, and multifunction devices.
