Epson Develops The World's First Office Papermaking System That Turns Waste Paper...

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Link: Epson Develops the World's First Office Papermaking System that Turns Waste Paper into New Paper (December 1, 2015) - Newsroom - Epson

 

Seiko Epson Corporation (TSE: 6724, "Epson") has developed what it believes to be the world's first compact office papermaking system capable of producing new paper from securely shredded waste paper without the use of water. Epson plans to put the new "PaperLab" into commercial production in Japan in 2016, with sales in other regions to be decided at a later date. Businesses and government offices that install a PaperLab in a backyard area will be able to produce paper of various sizes, thicknesses, and types, from office paper and business card paper to paper that is colored and scented...

 

PaperLab:

 

 

Recycling waste paper/reusing documents with confidential information are both pluses. However, how much energy does it use to create an a3 or A4 sheet? How many times can paper be put through this process before it can no longer be used? There has to be some waste generated: How is this handled?

[Sagima]

Environmentally friendly sounding letters with the scent of freshly cut grass - sounds lovely

[Duranis]

I love the idea of this but how practical is it going to be?

 

Yes it doesn't use water but it does user binders which are going to add to the ongoing running costs and are probably more expensive then using the water.

 

It also looks like an awfully large bit of kit so initial cost is probably going to be pretty high, which means it is only going to be purchased by companies that produce a ton of waste paper. Considering it can only spit out around 13 reams of paper a day it kind of has a small target market of:

Companies that produce enough waste paper that recovering it is cheaper than this machine+running costs

Don't produce enough waste that they need more than 13 reams of paper a day.

 

Considering how cheap paper can be I'm not sure how many situations this will be cost effective in. If it could be made cheap enough though then it would be brilliant.

[Lonix]

Seen some updated information on this.

 

I have to say, if this is cost effective for us and we don't cut down our printing - I see us having this.

 

Large bit of kit? Should see our Ricoh 8100s which is huge and just as big as this PaperLab. We are currently on 5 million copies in about 20 months...... (this doesn't include the little printers nor another old Ricoh) so potentially I would say we have done 6 million in that time.