New unprinting method can help recycle paper and curb environmental costs - Rutgers-led study shows the benefits of removing toner with pulses of intense xenon light

Imagine if your printer had an "unprint" button that used pulses of light to remove toner, curbing environmental impacts compared with conventional paper recycling.

A Rutgers-led team has created a new way to unprint paper that, unlike laser-based methods, can work with the standard, coated paper used in home and office printers. The new method uses pulses of light from a xenon lamp, and can erase black, blue, red and green toners without damaging the paper, according to a study in the Journal of Cleaner Production.

"Our method makes it possible to unprint and then reprint on the same paper at least five times, which is typically as many times paper can be reused with conventional recycling.

Conventional recycling of coated paper is a major contributor to climate change emissions, chemical pollution and energy use, according to the study. Extending the life of paper while avoiding these recycling steps would yield significant environmental benefits.

See #^https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-06/ru-num062519.php

#recycling #environment
#^New unprinting method can help recycle paper and curb environmental costs

Imagine if your printer had an 'unprint' button that used pulses of light to remove toner, curbing environmental impacts compared with conventional paper recycling.

source https://gadgeteer.co.za/node/3308