Epson develops in-office paper recycling system

Tokyo’s Seiko Epson Corporation (Epson) has developed what it believes to be the world’s first compact office papermaking system capable of producing new paper from securely shredded scrap paper without the use of water.

The company says it plans to put the new PaperLab into commercial production in Japan in 2016, with sales in other regions to be decided at a later date. Businesses and government offices that install a PaperLab in a back office area will be able to produce paper of various sizes, thicknesses, and types, from office paper and business card paper to paper that is colored and scented.

The company says it developed PaperLab as a technology that would change the paper cycle, giving new value to paper and stimulating recycling.

The company says PaperLab offers in-house recycling, secure destruction of confidential documents, high-speed production of various types of paper, and environmental performance with a dry process.

According to Epson, the device can produce a new sheet of paper in about three minutes of having loaded it with discarded paper and pressing the Start button. The system can produce about 14 A4 sheets per minute and 6,720 sheets in an eight-hour day, the company claims, and users can produce a variety of types of paper to meet their needs.

The company says recycling paper onsite shrinks and simplifies the recycling loop. Users can expect to purchase less new paper and reduce their transport CO2 emissions, Epson says.

A developmental prototype of the PaperLab will be demonstrated at the Epson booth location 4-002 at Eco-Products 2015, an environmental exhibition that will take place at the Tokyo Big Sight (Tokyo International Exhibition Center) from December 10 to 12, 2015.