A Japanese company called Sanwa Newtec has developed a printer that works without toners, ink or (copy) paper. ThePrePeat RP-3100 is rather based on a line thermal head and special paper that’s made of PET plastic and can be reused over and over again.

In other words, if you have a sheet that you don’t need any longer you can insert it back into the printer (where it gets “cleaned”) and immediately print out a new document in one go. Each of those special sheets can be used 1,000 times, saving not only the costs for 1,000 sheets of copy paper but also 5.7kg of CO2 for the environment.

The printer prints in black and white only, but at least you need neither toners nor ink (look here for a detailed price comparison with conventional printers).

One sheet costs $3.35, while the PrePeat itself is priced at $5,600. It’s already available in Japan (people living outside Japan can make an inquiry here). Obviously, Sanwa Newtec is justifying this price with the low running costs and the eco-friendliness of the device.

This video shows the “green” printer in action: