Save the Trees: New Rewritable Paper Could Significantly Reduce Paper Waste

One of the biggest problems in the world is waste. As the trend in globalization and modernization grows at a rapid pace, its effects on the environment becomes inevitable. The increase in population density has given rise to a number of problems that will take more than a century to solve.

Over the years, the amount of plastic production has been reduced by transforming disposable materials into paper and wood. However, this may have created another issue, which is not too easy to resolve.

Scientists have been thinking of ways to reduce the amount of paper waste and have come up with an interesting solution: rewritable paper. We have heard of erasable ink, but rewritable paper is a first.

According to reports, researchers from Shandong University in China have combined low-toxicity tungsten oxide and polyvinyl pyrrolidone to create a thin film. Material could be printed onto these sheets by exposing them to ultraviolet light for at least 30 seconds, turning the exposed material to an interesting shade of blue. To "erase" the writing, the material simply needs to be exposed to ozone or oxygen in air. Should the writing be required for a prolonged period of time, it simply needs a small drop of polyacrylonitrile to extend the prints for at least 10 more days. What makes it a "rewritable" sheet of paper is that scientists have approximated it to be reusable for about 40 times before the quality of the material significantly diminishes.

Despite the digital age, where everything can be viewed on mobile, the amount of paper waste does not seem to be reduced to a negligible amount. Junk from offices, schools, and the like are still majorly made up of paper, and local dumpsites are having problems disposing of these . Even though paper could be recycled, it still requires a significant amount of investment for old paper to be turned into a reusable sheet again.