
Office Papermaking System That Turns Waste Paper into New Paper - e19293001
http://global.epson.com/newsroom/2015/news_20151201.html
======
sandworm101
"...this essential tool is also produced from a limited resource."

Noop. Paper comes from trees. Trees are not a limited resource. They grow
again. A well-managed forest will provide forever. Looking at the complexity
of this machine, the plastics and metal used, and its probable energy
consumption, I doubt it is any more environmentally friendly than new or
traditional recycled paper.

I also cannot see this thing recycling forever. It adds chemicals, binders, to
the new paper. Subsequent generations will be more and more binder and less
and less paper. So the process will need an intake of new paper at one end,
and a disposal of used paper waste at the other. And now instead of relatively
harmless paper ready for recycling, that waste is toxic sludge of binders and
fragrances.

~~~
timthorn
I think that line is meant to refer to water rather than wood.

~~~
tormeh
That's even worse.

------
biot
My first thought was to question the energy efficiency of this kind of system.
However, it's interesting from the angle of secure document destruction: the
system is essentially a high security shredder with a side effect of spitting
out "new" paper.

~~~
jlcx
The NSA has apparently been pulping its paper waste for a while:
[https://www.nsa.gov/about/commitment/nsa_goes_green/nsa_recy...](https://www.nsa.gov/about/commitment/nsa_goes_green/nsa_recycles.shtml)

~~~
DonHopkins
The biggest and oldest ones I've ever seen first hand were the "Document
Disintegration Systems" shredders at Teufelsberg!

[http://dasalte.ccc.de/teufelsberg/teufelsberg.html](http://dasalte.ccc.de/teufelsberg/teufelsberg.html)

[http://dasalte.ccc.de/teufelsberg/teufelsberg-
Pages/Image25....](http://dasalte.ccc.de/teufelsberg/teufelsberg-
Pages/Image25.html)

------
Animats
That's an impressive achievement. But how many offices use substantial amounts
of paper entirely internally any more?

The big problem with paper recycling is that the fibers get shorter on each
pass, resulting in weaker paper. Going closed-cycle on paper is going to make
that problem worse. It's not like aluminum, where you can go round and round
forever without deterioration. Now if the system can take junk mail as a
feedstock, it will be more useful.

~~~
Rmilb
Tons of profitable companies still run on a lot of paper. I worked at an
insurance company where the head of the most profitable division (earth quake)
that actively discouraged the Idea of moving huge insurance contracts to
digital. Anecdotal, but I assume this is not unique.

~~~
colmvp
Definitely not just anecdotal. I think people on HN might be flabbergasted by
how many businesses in industries worth billions still largely operate with
paper.

~~~
chime
Problem with staying ahead of the curve is that you cannot see how huge the
curve is.

------
cgm616
This seems very useful for schools, who both need lots of paper (still even
now) and who need it only for a short time.

Schools have the space and resources for such a machine, and they could
potentially save lots of money and paper that otherwise goes into the trash at
home. It all depends on the costs of the system.

------
grhmc
Ahh, the cycle of bureaucracy[0].

[0]: [https://i.imgur.com/tIFidJt.gif](https://i.imgur.com/tIFidJt.gif)

~~~
TeMPOraL
Great!

BTW., when linking to GIFs at imgur, please append 'v' to the file extension,
i.e. [https://i.imgur.com/tIFidJt.gifv](https://i.imgur.com/tIFidJt.gifv) \-
.gifv are _much_ smaller and also play back smoother.

------
mthoms
Knowing Epson, the catch is probably along the lines of "requires consumable
cartridges that cost as much as the machine itself".

I'm only half-joking.

~~~
DonHopkins
You're less than half joking! Epson says it can print colored and scented
paper.

Remember the "iSmell Personal Scent Synthesizer" from DigiScents? "The device
contained a cartridge with 128 "primary odors" which could be mixed to
replicate natural and man-made odors. DigiScents had indexed thousands of
common odors, which could be coded, digitized, and embedded into web pages or
email." [1]

"We expect to have low-end and high-end iSmell hardware," Smith agrees. "The
low end may retail for under $200. The smell cartridges - even at the high end
- will probably cost under $50." With moderate use, he guesses, they should
last a few months." [2]

DigiScents claimed they were going to make money [3] by following the Epson
printer model, selling the device for cheap, while making money on the
cartridges. I imagine that the cookie scent would get used up a lot faster
than the poopie scent, then you have to replace the whole monolithic cartridge
of 128 odors.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISmell](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISmell)

[2]
[https://archive.wired.com/wired/archive/7.11/digiscent_pr.ht...](https://archive.wired.com/wired/archive/7.11/digiscent_pr.html)

[3] [http://www.startupover.com/en/20-million-burning-smell-
like-...](http://www.startupover.com/en/20-million-burning-smell-like-just-
ask-digiscents/)

------
fuzzythinker
Without water, even assuming people don't mix in colored papers, won't the
recycled papers get darker and darker? Maybe the fibers are so small that it
just throws away the dark ones.

~~~
encoderer
It doesn't say _without chemicals_. That's what I read into it.

~~~
maxerickson
Yeah, it prominently mentions binders.

 _A variety of different binders can be added to the fiberized material to
increase the binding strength or whiteness of the paper or to add color,
fragrance, flame resistance, or other properties needed for a given
application._

------
Asbostos
It's hard to imagine that this machine could be cheaper to own and operate
than just buying new paper. If it's not then it's just a show-off item for
Epson that nobody will actually use.

However, if it is cheaper, that might be a game changer! Maybe it does it by
eliminating the collection and sorting costs from traditional recycling.

~~~
level3
I think the point is that it combines both supplying new paper and disposing
old paper. In particular, companies generally won't use "traditional
recycling" for destroying confidential documents, instead opting for services
provided by a contractor (which will be more expensive).

Most tech companies won't have a need for this, but there are lots of
industries that might, depending on the actual cost of the system.

------
alexmntn
This machine is not going to help the most common use of paper in the offices
these days as the monitor stands and height elevators for the tables.

