Recycling paper could be made simpler by a new disappearing ink that can be erased from paper by heating.
Toshiba's erasable ink can be used in ordinary laser jet printers and pens.
A printed sheet is wiped clean by passing it through an erasing machine. The "decolourable" ink, which has been tinted blue to help distinguish it from ordinary, non-erasable, ink, has been named "e-blue".
It consists of three different chemical components. Two of these naturally combine to give the ink its colour. The third element reverses this process when heat is applied, causing the ink to become transparent. The paper can then be printed on again. It takes roughly 2 hours to erase 200 pages of paper using Toshiba's desktop erasing machine.
The ever-increasing use of desktop computers led some to predict that offices would one day do away with paper altogether. But the so-called "paperless office" has failed to materialize. Research shows that paper is as widely used as ever. It accounts for 40 per cent of all office waste in Japan and just 60 per cent of this is recycled.
"Despite new tools like e-mail and the development of all sorts of wireless technologies, people still just like to have things in paper," Toshiba spokesman Junichi Nagaki told Reuters . "We don't think demand for paper will ever disappear completely."
Toshiba plans to sell e-blue printer toner, pens and erasing machines in Japan from Monday. Toner and an erasing machine will sell for just under £1600.
