Ken Hickson asks “what is the most efficient way to recycle paper and cut waste?”
When Singapore’s Minister for Sustainability and the Environment Ms Grace Fu visited Epson’s Singapore headquarters earlier this month, she drew attention to “the new PaperLab product, the world’s first dry process office paper making system that can turn waste office paper into new paper on-demand”.
“PaperLab also ensures that sensitive corporate information is destroyed securely on site as waste office paper is upcycled directly in the office.
“Coupled with Epson’s heat free inkjet printers, businesses can look forward to printing responsibly. “Such breakthroughs in technology and design can help us get closer to our aim of reducing waste“.
As we were present on this important occasion, we saw for ourselves various products and machines being demonstrated
No doubt Epson’s PaperLab produces very high-quality paper and it uses little water in the process, but it does seem to produce more waste that has to be disposed of.
When used A4 paper is fed into PaperLab, what quantity of good recycled paper comes out the other end?
We received a range of answers.
We definitely got the message, as the Minister did, that the equipment has a way of detecting type or ink on the pages feed into PaperLab. But apparently it only saves and recycles the clean parts of the page, where there’s no ink.
Of course, that’s good to know, for security reasons, that the machine has a way of deleting or destroying all printed text and images on the paper. However, this creates more waste than you would expect when recycling paper.
It’s not so easy to calculate, but if 100 pages of used A4 paper – printed on one side – goes into the machine, we worked out that you would receive less than 50 pages coming out as clean “upcycled” paper at the other end. If type or ink takes up most of one page, or it’s printed on both sides, you’d receive considerably less. Maybe only 10 pages from the 100 you’d fed in.
Here’s how it works:
- A defibration unit, developed by Epson, mechanically breaks down used paper into fibers, without using water. All traces of information are completely and securely destroyed instantaneously.
- The fibers are bonded together using a material called “PaperPlus”, which can also add colour or increase paper whiteness, depending on the type.
- Pressure is applied to the bonded fibers to form new sheets of paper. You can produce Dry Fiber Paper (DFP) of various weights and in sizes ranging from A4 and A3 to business card size by controlling the density, thickness, and shape when the sheets are pressed. https://global.epson.com/technology/other/dft.html
When inventing this innovative piece of office equipment, we sense that the designers and engineers placed as much emphasis on “security” as they did on “sustainability”.
Along with that, the designers have gone to a lot of trouble to enable the machine to produce a variety of coloured papers of different sizes and weights, without giving a lot of thought to reducing what goes to waste.
We did ask the people at Epson what happens to the waste – paper and ink – that the machine undoubtedly produces? What’s the volume of waste and can it be put to some good use?
We’re sure someone in Epson has the answers, but on the day of the demonstration, and since, no one has come up with them.
To give Epson credit they have certainly come up with something special. The Dry Fiber Technology can, in principle, extract fibers not only from paper, but also from anything made of fibers, such as timber and bamboo.
Epson clearly says that “rather than recycling waste to use again in its original form, Dry Fiber Technology takes waste and creates new materials. Epson will continue to research ways in which the fibers that are produced can be used as resources.”
That’s good to know that they’re still working on it!
So, we did some research of our own to see what others have been saying about PaperLab.
Here’s what Tyler Lacoma had to say about it in Gadget Review in May last year:
The PaperLab is definitely the elephant in the room! (Referring to its size).
The Lab is so good at doing this that Epson reports it can produce 14 pages per minute, which adds up to thousands of sheets in an average workday.
While PaperLab does sound like an office-changing invention, this gadget is probably going to be very expensive.
Official figures haven’t been announced but it wouldn’t be surprising to see a figuring nearing US$100,000 – we’re talking about major investment here.
Also, while the machine is definitely a recycler, we’re not sure about the benefits involved. Until Epson announces some figures, it’s hard to tell if the PaperLab actually saves money, energy or time – all we know is that it’s huge, so corporations better have space set aside.
We did learn from another source that Epson might well get around to leasing PaperLab to offices/companies at around US$5000 a month.
What did Luke Dormeh have to say about PaperLap in Digital Trends last November:
Machine turns scrap paper into squeaky-clean new sheets ready for printing.
That’s what it has developed with PaperLab, which promises to save money and reduce waste and CO2 emissions by letting companies recycle (or, as Epson puts it, “upcycle”) paper on-site.
It does this by shredding waste paper and then turning that material into all new sheets at a rate of 14 A4 pieces of paper per minute.
Over the course of a workday, that translates to some 6,720 new sheets. And it does so with 98 percent less water than the traditional paper-recycling process.”
That’s a lot of paper and there’s a lot to pay for it whether buying or leasing PaperLab for the office, if we go by what’s been reported.
We compared it with what you would pay for virgin or recycled paper to use with your office printer or copier.
Whether buying online or in store, we found we could buy five reams (that’s 500 sheets in a ream) of “Double A” A4 paper from Giant Supermarket in Singapore for S$30. That works out $6 a ream.
We’ve come across Double A before, in fact, we’ve purchased their paper ourselves, because it’s a Thai pulp and paper producer that controls the quality from source to ream and sources sustainable wood by working with Thai rice farmers as part of the “Paper from Khan-Na” programme.
Each sheet of Double A paper is made from Double A Paper-Tree, which is grown on vacant strips of land, called KHAN-NA, between farmer’s rice paddies.
We also happen to know that Double A is an International Stakeholder Member of PEFC, the Programme for the Endorsement of Certified Forests.
So if you buy paper like this you know it’s responsibly sourced and sustainability produced. It can also be printed on both sides and after use, the paper can be recycled.
The wood fibers, which go into making paper for us to print, write or draw on, or use for packaging, make it possible for it to be recycled five to six times. You can also buy and use recycled paper for office or personal use.
For some time now, I’ve been having my business cards produced by Fast Cheetahs in Singapore on 9 Lives Offset by Ovol (formerly Spicers), which is a premium grade recycled paper that is definitely a notch above the rest with its carbon-neutral quality, FSC-certified and made from 100% post-consumer waste.
Two Sides, which operates from the United Kingdom (and the US), is a staunch advocate for the continued use of paper and printing, and has this to say:
In Europe, 72% of paper consumption was recycled in 2019, making it one of the most recycled of all materials. The European paper value chain is committed to maximising paper recycling rates, and reducing barriers that hamper the ability to recycle paper. Recycling paper is the most eco-efficient waste management option, and the use of recycled fibres complements the need for virgin wood fibre to meet societal demand for paper and board products.
Check out the recycling rate for paper where you live. In Singapore, I’m pleased to say, paper is among the most recycled of all “consumer waste” materials, but our recycling rate for paper/cardboard has slipped a little in recent years.
From a high recycling rate of 56% in 2018, paper/cardboard has decreased to 44% in 2019 and 38% in 2020. Among the contributing factors last year, was obviously the impact of the pandemic, when people working from home ordered more packaged deliveries (food and other products) and disposed of the packaging instead of having it recycled.
Whether using a computer/printer at home or in the office, it’s a relatively easy to get into the practice of printing on both sides of the paper. And when both sides are used up, take it to the blue recycling bin, along with your newspapers, magazines, clean plastic, glass and small metal objects. Or have it collected by a genuine paper recycler.
But let’s go back to Epson and its very important PaperLab. The Japanese company had the best of intentions when designing this and if it can address the “waste” issue I’ve pointed out, it has come up with a very useful, expensive, addition to what’s needed in our offices to recycle and re-use a valuable resource.
Epson is also committed to many important targets and other measures on its sustainability journey. See for yourself.
