recycled paper laptopOK, this thing ain’t real. Nobody’s manufacturing one, and it’s not at all clear that it would be a good idea to do so. But designer Je Sung Park has put together a mockup of a rather intriguing concept: a laptop made partly from recycled paper products, making parts easy to replace.

Of course, cramming all the electronic components into the paper/cardboard case and making sure the keyboard and touchpad (I don’t see a touchpad, so maybe the idea is to use a touchscreen?) are responsive is likely to be a bit of a challenge.

While disposable cameras and cellphones already exist, Park’s idea isn’t necessarily that you would buy this cheap laptop and throw the whole thing out after you were done sending an email. Rather, parts could easily be discarded and replaced. And since the case would be made from recycled pulp and paper, you could recycle a significant portion of the computer if and when its time has come.

via Boing Boing

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5 replies on “Concept: Disposable laptop made from recycled paper”

  2. I agree with marklarson on this one…why design a laptop explicitly to be thrown away? It’s one thing to design a cheap model that doesn’t require significant investment, but one that you’re “supposed” to throw away is kind of ridiculous.

  3. It strikes me as interesting and a little bit vain that companies are trying to get us to recycle our phones and laptops (Samsung Reclaim and this … … abomination) while each time I come home from the grocery store or mall, my non-recyclable footprint increases manifold compared to buying one of these feel-good products.

    How much recyclable corn-based plastic can there be in a cellphone’s body and how much can they save by switching to more eco-friendly packaging in all sorts of products, things that are designed to be thrown away as soon as they get home?

    The ultimate irony: An organic, eco-friendly cellphone which has its savings dwarfed by the plastic used to bring it and its accessories home.

  4. I think the idea of making it out of recycle plastic would make more sense that making it out of ‘cardboard’. I agree with MonkeyKing1969. 🙂

  5. You could do what Je Sung Park is toyting with RIGHT NOW! Its called pressed cellulose. You just make the case out of pressed cellulose…bingo. There is even a non-flamable product to use too that is tolerant of various temperature ranges without degrading too.I wouldn’t toss it in a tub of water for very long…but who would do that to a computer anyway! Then again any materials engineers would likely tell old Je Sung Park that various organic biodegradable substitutes for plastic exist and you could make everything in the computer even the PCBs out of such products. Thus you could make a computer out 90% corn or soybeans. And the up side of that is you CAN toss a computer made from organic plastic in the tub (or leave it out in the rain)…at least with the same effect as a current computer.

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