It won't be the paperless office many once thought possible, but it may be the next best thing. With Toshiba's new erasable ink, the green at heart can have their paper without the guilt. The company's new "e-Blue" erasing machine uses heat treatment to remove words and images printed with erasable toner on 400 to 500 A4 pages at a time. The process takes three hours, and will allow companies to re-use paper and cut office waste. "Despite new tools like e-mail and the development of all sorts of wireless technologies, people still like to have things on paper," said Toshiba spokesman Jun'ichi Nagaki. "We don't think demand for paper will ever disappear completely."

　　Toshiba will launch the toner and erasing machine, which will retail for around 300,000 yen (about 23,000 yuan), on December 8 in Japan. It is targeting corporate clients and paper-shuffling public-sector organizations that use laser printers. For the old-fashioned, the company will also offer erasable ballpoint pens and markers.

　　Paper accounts for about 40 percent of office waste in Japan, Toshiba says. About 60 percent of that is recycled.


　　日本发明消字机 重用纸张梦想成真

　　这一发明的结果并非是很多人曾经想过的无纸办公室,但可能是仅次之的最好的事！使用东芝新发明的可消字墨水,不想浪费自然资源的人便可以毫无罪恶感地重用纸张。该公司的新产品"E-Blue"消字机通过热处理一次就可将400—500页A4纸上的用可消字涂色剂印上的字或图消掉。这一过程需要3小时。这将使各公司对纸张重新利用,减少浪费。"尽管有新的方式像电子邮件以及各种各样无线技术的发展,人们还是愿意把东西写在纸上。"东芝发言人Jun'ichi Nagaki说道,"我们认为对纸的需求永远不会完全消失。"

　　东芝将于12月8日在日本发售可消字色剂与消字机,零售价约300000日元(约2.3万元人民币),它的销售对象是使用激光打印机的公司办事处和大量用纸的国家机关单位。对于那些因循守旧不用电脑的人,该公司还将提供可消字的圆珠笔和荧光笔。

　　东芝公司说,在日本,废纸占到办公室废品的40%,有60%的废纸得到回收