Innovation & Technology Innovation & Technology
Epson's New In-Office Papermaking System Turns Waste Paper Into New Paper

By Sustainable Brands | Published 8 years ago | About a 3 minute read

While so much of our lives have veered toward the digital, many organizations’ operations still rely to some degree on paper. Innovative solutions to help minimize the impact of continued paper use include print-optimization technologies and even more “sustainable” fonts. Now, Seiko Epson Corporation has developed what it believes to be the world's first*1compact office papermaking system capable of producing new paper from securely shredded waste paper*2 with minimal use of water*3. The company says it plans to put the "PaperLab" into commercial production in Japan in 2016, with sales in other regions to be decided at a later date. A prototype of the PaperLab will be demonstrated this week at Eco-Products 2015 in Tokyo.

PaperLab Features and Benefits

1. Office-based recycling process: Ordinarily, paper is recycled in an extensive process that typically involves transporting waste paper from the office to a papermaking (recycling) facility. With PaperLab, Epson is looking to shorten and localize the recycling process.

Dry Fiber technology

3. High-speed production of various types of paper: PaperLab produces a new sheet of paper from waste paper in roughly three minutes. The system can produce about 14 A4 sheets per minute and 6,720 sheets in an eight-hour day. Users can produce a variety of types of paper to meet their needs, from A4 and A3 office paper of various thicknesses to paper for business cards, color paper and even scented paper.

4. Environmental performance: PaperLab makes paper without the use of water. Ordinarily it takes about a cup of water to make a single A4 sheet of paper; Epson says PaperLab uses “a small amount of water” to maintain a certain level of humidity inside the system. In addition, recycling paper onsite shrinks and simplifies the recycling loop. Users can expect to purchase less new paper and reduce their CO₂ emissions generated through transport.

Epson aims to help customers increase operational efficiency by providing high-speed, low-power business inkjet printers that deliver images of amazing quality at a low cost per print. And by employing PaperLab to convert used paper into new, the company believes that offices of all types will fundamentally change the way they think about paper.

*1 Epson believes it is the world's first paper production system to use a dry process.
*2 The system can use ordinary A3- and A4-sized copy paper as raw material.
*3 A small amount of water is used to maintain a certain level of humidity inside the system.