What will they think of next? “Unprint” a document

Unprint a Document

Maclean’s Magazine reports that the low-carbon materials processing group at the University of Cambridge have found a new technique for recycling paper.

Julian Allwood (group leader) and his collaborators have developed a process that can remove toner from printed paper so it can be used again – essentially an “unprinter”.  In a nutshell, the process uses very short pulses of laser light to heat up the ink on a printed page until the ink vaporizes.  With this technique, a piece of paper can reportedly be reused up to 5 times.

As discussed in a University of Cambridge research note, this new process offers promise for significantly reducing the amount of trees harvested to create paper.  And reusing paper could save an additional 50-80% in carbon emissions over recycling.

IM practitioners don’t have to worry about this technology appearing in office printers/copiers in the near future – commercialization is said to be a ways off yet.  But its certainly a technology to keep our eyes on and one which gives new meaning to the “paperless office”.

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Case in Point

That's A Lot of Records!
Often the requirement for a needs assessment is driven by a specific initiative being considered or an immediate problem to be solved, rather than a general desire to establish a corporate (or organization-wide) IM program. We had a client wanting to improve its management of a specific group of critical records – thousands of member files in paper, microform and digital formats containing hundreds of unique document types.
Assess, Plan and Schedule
Ergo reviewed the organization’s current practices for managing those records, compared those practices to best practices, and identified risks and areas for improvement. From there we developed a strategic plan with a focus on records storage and retention. The plan identified the operational, financial and technological requirements for implementing the recommended changes, improvements and enhancements in the lifecycle management of the member records. Activities in the plan were classified as short term (next 6-12 months), medium term (next 12-24 months) and longer term (next 25+ months).
Step by Step Success
Implementation of the strategic plan enabled this organization to ensure its member records are properly identified, organized, accessible, protected and retained as long as necessary to meet operational and other requirements.
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