A sound way to recycle on today's EnvironMinute. You may have the latest in electronic communications, but your printer still demands a daily diet of paper, and that puts a burden on trees and landfills. Recycling helps, but the usual method pulps the paper and damages its fibers. Researchers at Kansas State University are working on a new process that leaves fibers intact. Paper is immersed in water.
Tiny bubbles form on the print because ink repels water.
Pulses of sound force the bubbles to collapse. That breaks up the ink. The bits of ink are blown off the page. Researchers say the paper is not harmed and can make several return trips to your printer. The EnvironMinute is produced in cooperation with the National Safety Council and made possible by the Teresa and H. John Heinz III Foundation.