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White Goat: Weird machine turns office paper into toilet paper
Behold the hilariously named White Goat (no relation to your humble narrator) we told you about last year, a paper-hungry machine that poops toilet paper. In development for years, now it's about to actually go on sale. Or so they say.
Pop in 40 sheets of regular paper, and a half-hour later, out comes a roll of toilet paper. It's pretty cheap, too, costing about dime per roll to perform this alchemy. But wait a doggone second. The machine itself costs $100,000.
What were they thinking? At an average cost per roll of about 60 cents, our calculations show you'd have to crank out 200,000 rolls of TP before it pays for itself. Maybe this is an early April fool's joke? No. Here's the video proof:
Via Ubergizmo
By Darren at 2:10 PM ON 01/29/10
They should make a home version so everyone shredding personal papers can recycle without having to worry about identity theft.
By AT at 2:32 PM ON 01/29/10
Honestly, if they made the roll size larger (like the big companies such as Walmart use) then maybe these companies would consider taking the plunge. They shred tons of paper annually so this would essentially be killing two birds with one stone.
And after maybe a year or two recover the cost of this machine.
By Jayson at 2:35 PM ON 01/29/10
I could see this being used by companies who typically pay a lot for shredding/recycling services. It would be very easy to make up the initial investment.
Or even high-rise buildings. my building has 23 floors. 5 stalls per floor. And they probably go through 2-3 rolls each per day.
Paid off in 2 years. That's faster than a lot of other capital improvements.
By okham at 2:49 PM ON 01/29/10
I've seen some papers that started out as toilet paper. I wonder if the machine can run backwards...
By kp at 3:35 PM ON 01/29/10
they need to add an tray where you can pour in some fabric softener.
i could see it being feasible in certain situations, especially if they added an option to output paper-towels.
By Junky at 4:07 PM ON 01/29/10
okham, you've got to be kidding, used toilet paper turned into writing paper? That's disgusting. I think you misunderstood whatever it is you saw.
By IronOre at 4:10 PM ON 01/29/10
Junky, okham is referring not to the paper, but to the quality of the writing I think. There are so many jokes here, and none of them are good.
By Handgunman at 10:25 AM ON 02/01/10
It would be kind of fun to put in brightly colored paper and see what comes out. you could probably even sell the results as a curiosity.
By BB at 10:26 PM ON 02/01/10
LOL! It makes a LOT more sense when you realize it's Japanese.
By Nex at 12:16 AM ON 02/02/10
Actually this would be a great machine for some businesses. Not only is it a great recycling product, but think of all the Paper Shredding Services. They would be prime candidates to snap these up. Imagine wiping your backside with failed Congressional Bills? Or they could donate the Rolls to charities for a write off...maybe even sell it back to the companies they have contracts with as an additional service?
By chrismarois at 6:32 PM ON 02/02/10
Cool idea but the price is REDICULAS!! Everyone that said that it would pay for itself in 2 years is CRAZY...It can only make 1 roll every 30 minutes = 48 rolls per day = 17520 rolls a year. At that rate it will take 11.42 YEARS to make the required 200,000 rolls to break even...and that is only if the machine 1) Never breaks down, and 2) Uses no energy (which we know it does)
By Cladist at 1:31 AM ON 02/03/10
What does it do with the staples?
By hmmm at 2:37 PM ON 02/04/10
I'm new to this website, but I have to say I'm seeing a lot of cynicism here which is frustrating considering this won a major award at Monozukuri Nippon awards - don't you think they knew what they were doing? More specifically, it's like Jayson said - you have to factor in the money being spent on document shredding and disposal - that's what this was designed for - not home use. This idea and it's manufacturer should be applauded for contributing to waste minimization initiatives.
By pau at 7:11 AM ON 02/05/10
It takes about half hour to make one toilet roll
http://www.japansugoi.com/wordpress/japanese-shredded-office-paper-to-toilet-paper-recyling-machine/
By Neil at 6:16 AM ON 02/09/10
Just Brilliant. Trust the japanise to come up with such inventive ideas. Plus for the price of €100,000 what it does that really isn't that expensive. Plus the price will come down.
By Anonymous at 7:27 AM ON 03/09/10
i need to buy it.how can i take it?
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