About 50% of all papers printed in offices, schools, colleges, universities and homes are used only once before being disposed them off to the garbage box. Environmental cost of such one-time use for paper is rather huge. Even recycling of used papers involves significant costs in terms of energy, water and associated pollution of the environment. To address this issue, we have made a novel rewritable/reprintable paper, which allows writing by most conventional pens, e.g. ball pen and printing by most conventional printers, e.g. laser-jet printers and then allow also the ink to be removed in easy and simple steps. The paper thus recovered remains usable over many cycles.
While papers
remain one of the most widely used writing material, environmental impact of using paper is rather huge. Some papers are recyclable but the process of recycling is lengthy and energy intensive; importantly, the quality of recycled paper may not be as good as that of the original paper. Hence, there is a need for rewritable and re-printable paper which can minimize impact on environment without limiting their usage.
In this context, we have developed a novel writable/printable surface on which one can write using common ball pen (preferably that of black ink) and can print using laser jet and inkjet printer. The ink remains as long as the user wishes it to be there but can also be wiped off by gentle mopping with a wet cloth. These sheets can be used through many such cycles of writing and cleaning without any change in surface characteristics that allow them to be used as a re-writable surface. The sheets are made of environmentally benign and degradable material. These papers
have the potential of reducing significantly carbon foot print in our schools, colleges and offices.
re-usablepaper: