What we have here is a machine that automatically turns office paper into toilet paper. It’s called White Goat (seriously) and is made by a Japanese company called Oriental [JP]. The way it works is simple: You just feed the machine with about 40 sheets of office (or whatever) paper, wait for 30 minutes and take out a perfectly made toilet paper roll.
The machine shreds the paper, which is then dissolved in water, thinned out, dried and wound into toilet rolls. Oriental says one roll costs 10 Yen ($0.11) to make, which isn’t bad. And the White Goat can be installed right in your office, too. Oriental also claims that regular usage of the machine can save up to 60 cedar trees annually.
The White Goat stands 1.8m tall and weighs 600kg. It will go on sale in Japan this summer (it’s been in development for years). Price: $100,000.
This video (English/Japanese) shows how the White Goat works in more detail:
Here’s a longer one (in Japanese) I pulled from the company’s website:
How much toilet paper will you have to make to comp the $100k price tag?
I mean, this is a pretty awesome idea, but it’s hardly “eco-friendly” considering all that goes into making the machine itself and the energy required to run it.
Yeah but you forget about all the problems & energy it takes for paper in the recycling bin at a office to get transported, sorted, de-inked, and such at the recycling place. Supposedly the de-inking process is not that “eco-friendly”.
Paper Recycling is supposedly the least efficient & effective recycling when compared to Aluminum & Glass Recycling.
Does it come in 2-ply versions?
Can you run it in reverse?
color paper?
why would you want shredded office paper?
It’s a great idea and there is definitely a place for it in big office bldgs. Instead of companies paying to have someone shred their paper trash, etc. it could be recycled and reused. Think about how many tons of paper trash just in a N.Y.C. office block. Every office supplies their bathrooms with toilet paper, right? Oh, I’m sorry, I forgot about what the down side would be.
Sure, it has to be cost effective, but don’t dismiss this idea entirely.
it’s a great idea especially for Japan. There is so much paper still used for things that went digital ages ago in most other developed countries.
If they put it in all average-sized bank branches here they’d save a billion trees in about six months.
It would be great if it had additional settings to make hand paper towels, tissues, or facial towels as well. The paper from my office could supply a third world country with toilet paper from all the office paper we throw out.
I hope there is a way to adjust for texture, strength, and softness, too. Free toilet paper is a bad idea if nobody uses it because it’s “John Wayne” toilet paper – It’s rough and tough and won’t take the sh– off of nobody. ;)
the idea is pretty good, but I still don’t buy it completely.
What a great idea! It could solve the problem of paper flood in every office. Of course it would be the best if all the offices went paperless, it starts to be common. But until that this machine could be very useful.
I really hope it gets all the staples out…