While being able to evaluate your paper use is a great idea, there is something on the horizon that may be even better. What if each of those employees were able to use one piece of paper 1000 times without the paper going through the recycling process? That's what the scientists at PARC are working on developing. They have actually developed a technology called "Gyricon" that they hope will produce a viable electronic paper option for mass consumption.

From their Web site:

"There are many ways an image can be created in electronic reusable paper. For example, sheets can be fed into printer-like devices that will erase old images and create new images. Printer-like devices can be made so compact and inexpensive that you can imagine carrying one in a purse or briefcase at all times. One envisioned device, called a wand, could be pulled by hand across a sheet of electronic reusable paper to create an image. With a built-in input scanner, this wand becomes a hand-operated multi-function device -- a printer, copier, fax, and scanner, all in one."

The idea is that you can print out a page using a specialized device and then quickly delete the contents to reuse at any time. They are saying that the paper could be used thousands of times before needing to be replaced.

The scientists at PARC have some history to back up their innovation. To navigate to this Web site, you used one of their inventions: the mouse. They are also credited with the first computer-generated graphics, a graphical user interface (that includes things like program windows and icons), Ethernet (which is used with high speed Internet) and the laser printer.