Producing paper is one of the most environmentally harmful activities. On one hand, the chemicals used in its treatment are highly toxic, and on the other, the daily waste reaches staggering levels. A group of chemists at the University of California has developed what seems to be a triple solution through a paper that can be reused, doesn't use trees as raw material, and doesn't depend on traditional ink to write on it.
There's a saying that nothing is older than yesterday's newspaper. If we stop to think about it, the phrase is much deeper than it seems. As soon as it hits the streets, the traditional newspaper carries an expiration date. Within twenty-four hours or less, the validity of its information becomes a memory, and unless something productive is done, the paper that contains it turns into waste. Now, add the impact of the business environment. How many sheets are printed each day? How many memos, reports, and files are read once, only to end up in the shredder's jaws? Modern paper production defends a vicious cycle, and deep down we know it's unsustainable, but the industry doesn't seem very enthusiastic about the idea of changing.
A reusable paper
The solution must come from elsewhere, such as the minds of chemistry experts. Professor Yadong Yin and his team at the University of California have developed an advanced variant of paper that doesn't use trees as raw material. The most important advantage of this paper is that it can be reused up to twenty times without loss of contrast or definition. The system is based on color change through oxidation-reduction and combines the three primary colors. When ultraviolet light is applied, this combination is “photo-bleached” except for the parts that form the text, and to erase the paper's content, all that's needed is to heat it a little.
Professor Yin explains that at room temperature, the letters on the paper remain intact for three days, more than enough time for almost any practical application. The ideal erasing temperature is 115 degrees Celsius, a number within reach of a conventional laser printer. The next step is to increase the number of uses to a hundred, in an attempt to further reduce its overall cost. Although this paper doesn't completely escape its dependence on cellulose (it uses hydroxyethylcellulose as a thickening agent), it definitely has the potential to break the nefarious waste cycle that has taken hold.
