Is It Easy Being Green?

Despite the corporate green wave, many printed pages are quickly discarded. Xerox estimates that two out of every five pages printed in the office are printed for a single viewing (e.g. e-mails, Web pages and reference materials).

Scientists at the Xerox Research Centre of Canada and the Palo Alto Research Center have invented a way to make prints whose images last only a day, so the paper can be used again and again. While still an experimental technology, this “erasable paper” could someday replace printed pages used for just a brief time before being discarded and ultimately lead to a significant reduction in paper use.