Green at WIRED NextFest: Paper that Self-Erases After 24 Hours XEROX

yeah, that's already been invented... it's call an etch-a-sketch.

One of the stupidest products I have ever heard of. Sorry if this isn't an intelligent comment, but it isn't an intelligent product.

Care to elaborate on that, anonymous?

Actually, I think this is a great idea and here's why:
In my office we use a TON of paper and it's generally for things that we only need to print out for review and then later in the day it's thrown out. I couldn't stand all the wasted paper and decided to have my staff start saving it so that we can print on the back side of the paper. Well, the problem is that running printed paper through a laser printer causes some of the ink to stick to the rollers and then it lays down on the paper. Secondly, I literally could not re-use the paper fast enough. As I type this I have 5 cases (25,000 pieces of paper) sitting next to my desk! So for a company like where I work, this is an ideal tree saving/cost saving solution.

Just like Joe said, reusing normal paper just doesnt work. This paper is only to be used in printed scenarios, no way youre going to get this stuff to pass through a copier several times :)

How about an ink that disappears when exposed to a certain wavelength of light rather than after a period of time? That way you can actually decide whether or not to keep a document. When you print something out you usually don't know whether you are going to need it again after 24 hrs.

Haha I agree with Paul. Instead of having two piles of paper: One pile of regular paper for documents you'd want to keep for more than 24 hours, and the other pile of self-erasing paper, they should find a way so that you can control when the paper erases. I can imagine it would get pretty annoying if you wanted to refer back to a document the next day for some information you need only to find it has magically dissapeared. For example, school notes. Usually you need them for more than 24 hours, but you won't need them after the semester. It would be awesome if you could THEN erase them, after your exams, and have the fresh erased paper ready for the next school semester. And that also means less back-to-school shopping to be done which would be a bonus. :)

Now I have to wait 24 hours before I sign on any paper.

whatever happened to electronic paper technology. i dont owe one but something like amazon kindle thing but even more paper like. so you don't need to print at all.. and perhaps so pliable you can fold it into small pieces..

i remembered seeing a very early prototype at an exhibit. it was only blk/white.

i dream of the day there'd be an electronic paper. and so cheap so if you're traveling and forget to bring your "electronic paper" you can buy one from a vending machine and be able to download your entire computer from a central server , including books/newspapers..

i guess apple would go out of business. and all computer hardware companies.. unless they're the ones to come up with it..

well i guess the whole point is they want to sell the printer..

or the specialty paper...

I agree that this product would be a lot more useful if it erased itself when exposed to a certain wavelength of light or to heat. Then instead of paper shredders, the company would have a microwave-like device that erases the pages. As long as the paper isn't too beat up, it will go back through the printer. And as I'm looking around my desk, many pages that are months old still have nice sharp corners and smooth surfaces. I'd bet they'd go through the printer again without a problem.

We could really use your 5 boxes of paper, Joe! Here's what we would do with it: www.papergeist.com Maybe you could make your own!

As for the vanishing paper, how many trees do you have to save to make up for the carbon footprint of all the new printers the market will need? Other than that, it's a good idea.

Any ideas to save paper would be great. But running paper back through the printer doesn't always work so well. Especially after a few times. Printers really prefer crisp paper. When it's not crisp, it has a tendency to get jammed more easily.

In regards to the above comment about the carbon footprint of all the new printers: Assuming the idea makes it to market, I don't think everyone would suddenly replace all of their printers. I would assume that they would buy them in the normal cycle of things, ie when they break or when extra printers are needed .

My short-term documents are for people to scribble comments and corrections on.

Are they going to produce pens full of 24hr ink, so the paper is still re-useable when my managers are finished with it?

Now that is cool. I love to print things off and read them.. and I go through mountains of paper. 24 hours though is a little short but I still think thsi is a cool idea.

Wow that's cool. I don't know the use of it though. How often do you print off something just to keep it for a day.

Sounds to me like certain companies were looking for the "next big thing" !!

We should all be working toward the paperless office, that would save the need to print altogether and therefore the need to make paper.

Stop buying newspapers is a start!

Building on the "only erased by a special wavelength of light" suggestion...you could have the special printer that uses the light to print also have a place to put stacks of used paper and it would have a lower section that would erase with the special light and then move the paper over to the fresh pile for printing. Not sure if light would be capable of printing anything that sticks around for more than a day or so...that might need to be some sort of paper with magnetic material or something that gets rearranged by the printer and then dispersed by another machine when it's time for reuse.

Wow, I am impressed, that was very nice.

You can always print on the other side, if the paper isnt wrinkled and if you don't have a duplex printer (one that prints on both sides).

I like to use old paper I printed on as scratch paper, rather than brand new sheets.

Its not quite what will solve the problem but its a step in the right direction.

mots of the stuff that gets printed at a workplace is used for commenting, highlighting etc etc. point being its hardly used in its printed form. So what good is this paper when the printed stuff dissappers but the written,highlighted stuff is still there ?

Good idea for web users who still prefer to print then read things off paper instead off the screen

Can be used as toilet paper? That would be ecological issue...

Great, now publishers can get their own version of digital rights management.. newspapers and novels that erase themselves after a certain amount of time. Read quickly, or prepare to buy often!

New lost homework excuse in 3... 2... 1...

Thas is so cool ..
MediaSignage did a piece on that...

Hmmm......seems useful and useless at the same time.....

this is are great invent, hope soon they'll release this paper. Thanks for sharing this news, i'll pop it up on my blog.

This is a very interesting idea... it could well cut the huge amounts of paper wastage seen in the printing industry... http://www.printweek.com/news/849949/Xerox-unveils-erasable-paper/

This may be a good invention for spies:)

The Government will love it.

This will be great for the bush administration,
it will make it possible for them to too not leave a paper trail
to their evils upon the world..

maybe they need to make a machine that can detect that kind of paper or else scammers might take advantage of does, imagine human trafficking and fake contracts can be made using those things, and the worst thing here is , if ever you sign up a contract with those paper, what will be left behind aftet 24 hours will be your original signature. and your signature can be use on something Evil.

I think a lot of organizations are exploring new ways to become more cost efficient these days. Many big companies often use large amounts of paper in their everyday environments.So they need a paper shredders because Paper shredders are a simple solution to destroying many of the documents and materials that hold private information.Taking simple steps, such as purchasing a paper shredder, can help you avoid a lot of pain and suffering in the future. That seems well worth the small investment.Wanted to compliment on your site, it looks really good.