A Bad Way to Save Paper and Energy

Xerox – (XRX-$14.04) in conjunction with its subsidiary, the Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), is working on a way to make paper truly recyclable.

PARC, a scientific research firm, works closely with its business customers to find novel ways to solve real needs using an integrated team of scientists from various disciplines (physical sciences, computer sciences, biological sciences and social sciences). Together, these teams convert cutting-edge technology into industry prototypes.

One 2008 solution includes The Responsive Mirror, a video technology for fitting rooms where shoppers can, in virtual space, compare the current dress, for example, to previous dresses tried. This may seem like a frivolous application of science and technology until one considers the hours people spend in dressing rooms trying to decide which item of clothing to buy – time that might be better spent at work, at home, or advancing an education.

Current research at PARC revolves around ways to make a piece of paper’s text fade within 16 to 24 hours. This paper and an adjunct printer would produce text documents (think meeting schedules, video conference instructions, or routine maintenance directives) which – when their usefulness fades – can be reprinted. In other words, thanks to Xerox and PARC innovation, that obsolete meeting agenda can be recycled into another, equally forgettable, agenda.

This "disappearing ink" paper is based on a photosensitive coating that turns dark when exposed to ultraviolet (UV) light. Users won’t have to wait for the text to disappear, either. They can simply run the printed sheets through a special printer to erase the image before its expiration date. If that planned video conference falls through (and how many do as a result of human rather than technological error?) the paper can almost immediately be recycled for the next meeting.

This instantly recyclable paper is expected to hit the market in a few years, and the paper can be reused hundreds of times. The only thing that prevents reuse is, again, human error, as in that balky, errant office worker who crushes said meeting notice in frustration. Damaged paper is not reusable, even under current technology. Paper with shredded edges or unusual folds has been known to wreck many an expensive, high-speed printer, so this is not a tech oversight.

This disappearing-text paper is expected to save enough energy to power a small city. It takes the same amount of power to run a 60-watt light bulb for an hour as it does to make a sheet of paper. Using the special printer will not conserve significant energy, but allowing the paper to fade on its own could represent substantial energy savings in a country that consumes about nine million tons of paper each year at an energy cost of about $200 million. That is, if people use it.

I don’t want to negate the science that went into it, or the hours of effort required to take it from theory to practicality, but I can see all kinds of obstacles, from the higher initial costs for paper and the special printer to people’s own bad habits. It’s an unfortunate aspect of human brain wiring that most office workers will hoard these outdated, printed video conference details for years after the event itself has fallen into the black hole of history.

Administrative assistants and private secretaries do it because they are hardwired (or perhaps bullied) into saving anything that might make them, or their bosses, look better when Human Resources, Legal, Enterprise – or, heaven forbid, the SEC or OSHA – decide to investigate possible past misconduct. Mid-level management does it because they don’t have much else to do (other than look busy and be prepared). Field workers and work crews do it because they have learned, often the hard way, that documentation goes the extra mile when critical systems fail because someone higher up told them to install (or repair, or remove) a component the cheapest (rather than the right) way, and they weren’t in a position to argue. In the corporate world, cost is king.

Electronic copies of documents would be an adequate solution to this general paranoia, if electronic systems weren’t subject to intentional or accidental failure. I will never forget the time I spent months setting up a electronic database of news releases under a proprietary system, only to have IT dismantle the software without my knowledge. The same thing happens accidentally all the time, leaving most corporate clones in a state of suspended panic, with overflowing file cabinets that may, or may not, rescue them from the next, inevitable housecleaning that makes their jobs obsolete.

Sorry, Xerox and PARC. I know you went the extra mile, but first we have to find a technological fix for the corporate mentality that leads to "paper paranoia".

Disclosure: I don’t own Xerox stock.


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