A pen(ny) saved is a penny earned

Hi fellow bloggers!

Since one of our previous blogs about how to save printer ink with Ecofonts was such a hit, we decided to provide you with another green innovation concerning this topic. You see, there are more ways to rethink your use of ink!

Do you also have bundles of uncapped and discarded pens in your drawer or pencil case for no apparent reason? Why do we keep on saving writing tools that are actually already dried out or, on the contrary,  too runny? It almost seems like we already knew the pen-printer was coming…

Thanks to this invention of the Japanese Tae-jin Kim and Su-in Kim, abandoned pens and other such stationery get a second life. The device enables you to clean up your drawer and give a purposeful usage to its content, since it uses ballpoint pens as sources of ink to print. The pen-printer makes rebirth of the remains of ink in the pens, rather than using expensive cartridges that never even fully deplete. Next to being ecological, the pen-printer is also very easy to use. It's powered by a computer, a tablet or a smartphone via a USB cable. You just connect the device and insert a pen… and it is ready to go! Moreover, as the appliance is very compact, it can be easily slipped into a laptop bag or backpack, so you can print wherever and whenever you want.

In terms of operation, after inserting the pen, first of all the ink is extracted from it. The device uses heat to do so, in that way even old writing tools that are not used frequently or carry ‘stiff ink’ are not lost. Afterwards the inner mechanisms redistributes the ink accurately as text and images on the page.

We think the pen-printer is a great idea for (business)people who are on the road a lot and have to print documents from time to time. Nevertheless, at home we still prefer a normal printer, because it seems a bit uncomfortable dragging around this device and looking for paper and pencils when needed. Moreover, the appliance only accommodates the standard A4 size of paper.

And what about you? What do you think of this green and compact printer?

Hélène, Sofie & Ann-Sophie