Erase and Reuse Old Documents by Eco-friendly Printer

February 6th, 2010
DigInfo News

Figuring out how to reuse TPS reports and office printouts appears to have become a passion for Japanese engineers, as DigInfo News has discovered in recent days. If the “White Goat” machine that converts paper sheets into toilet paper failed to appeal, consider this apparently eco-friendly printer that can erase old documents and reuse them up to 1,000 times per special page.

The “PrePeat” printer uses a special thermal head and heat-sensitive plastic sheets to print whatever documents are mandatory. Users won’t have to buy ink or other consumables ever again, but there’s a catch – each printer comes with a price tag of about $5,517 (500,000 yen), and the plastic sheets come in lots of 1,000 at the price of $3,300.

prepeat printers

Such a sturdy price tag means that only large paper-users might consider PrePeat. Smaller offices and individual customers will likely stick with their old-fashioned printer and paper combos for now, and keep the folks at Dunder Mifflin in business for a while longer.

[popsci.com]