Yes, you heard that right – it’s paper made out of stone.
Found in eggshells, makeup, toothpaste and in some medicines, calcium carbonate – better known as limestone - is also used to make paper. As it’s one of the most abundant materials on earth, the supply is unlikely to run out any time soon.
To make the paper, resin is added to calcium carbonate then heat and pressure are applied before rolling it into paper. Tough enough to be used in place of regular paper, it’s also waterproof, washable, tear-resistant, food safe and printable. As it has properties similar to plastic as well, it can also be used for food packaging and other products such as bags.
The paper can be recycled. If it does end up in landfill, it will fully degrade back to calcium carbonate powder in just 12 months of sunshine.
You can use it at home on your inkjet printer, but you’re out of luck if you like to use an old-fashioned ink pen. As it’s waterproof, you need to use pencils or a regular pen.
If you’d like to buy some stone-paper products, you can see Australian company Karst’s beautiful notepads here or read more about it in CNET’s road test here.