Technology replacing atoms with bits has produced some incredible “printing” processes.

The first is ZINK Paper™. By embedding dye crystals in a composite substrate with a protective polymer coating, anything that can be printed can be “printed” ink-free. An application of heat melts the dye crystals and - voilá - you have a photo-quality print. Polaroid offers a tiny little digital printer - and will probably build one into a camera soon enough - so that the result is a photo that shoots out of the printer, much like the old Polaroid camera days.

I must admit that there is something pretty special about a company with a “corporate haiku:”

“Digital printing, now magically simple, ZINK for everyone.”

There is one nagging concern - with a composite substrate and a polymer coating - can this be anything close to recyclable?

The second is the E Ink technology embedded in the Amazon Kindle. Up to this point, E Ink has only been able to replicate black and white printing. What is really exciting is that this generation of E Ink is in color!

To form an E Ink electronic display, the ink - consisting of microcapsules suspended in a liquid “carrier medium” - is printed onto a sheet of plastic film that is laminated to a layer of circuitry. The circuitry forms a pattern of pixels that can then be controlled by a display driver.

This ink can be printed using existing screen printing processes onto virtually any surface, including glass, plastic, fabric and even paper. Ultimately electronic ink will permit most any surface to become a display, bringing information out of the confines of traditional devices and into the world around us.

Now is this technology recyclable? It’s also a composite substrate with a polymer coating - though the materials are not nearly the same as the ZINK. A the “end of product life,” we all hope it’s recyclable.

The good news is that it’s not intended for a single use! After all, this is “today’s news on yesterday’s paper,” to quote John Seely Brown (heard at the Seybold Conference, San Francisco, 2000).

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