Digital Trends

Like disappearing ink, words printed with Xerox's erasable paper will fade completely within 24 hours, allowing the pages to be used over and over.

With recycling and other green technologies turning into all the rage in the tech world, it’s no surprise that Xerox has found yet another way to cut down on paper use – although this one’s quite a leap. The company announced on Friday that it will use Wired NextFEST as a podium to debut its new erasable paper concept, which makes the “ink” on printed pages disappear in 24 hours so it can be reused.

Engineers accomplished the feat by impregnating the paper with chemicals that darken when exposed to a specific wavelength of light, allowing documents to be “printed” on without ever actually laying down ink or toner. The effect fades with time though, so the dark portions on printed pages disappear automatically within 16 to 24 hours of printing. The pages can also be exposed to heat to clear immediately.

Although printing pages that don’t last forever may sound counterproductive, Xerox found that as many as 40 percent of office printouts are used for less than a day, either because the data won’t be relevant later or because the pages are only needed for a single viewing.

Currently, the paper will stand only as a tech demo to show off Xerox’s current R&D, meaning it’s still quite far from eventually, if ever, making it to the market.