Paper Made of Stone

Limex is a new material made of limestone that can be used as a substitute for paper and plastic products. It takes its name from ‘limestone’ and the variable ‘x’. Nobuyoshi Yamasaki and Yuichiro Sumi invented this product and established a company called TBM to develop, manufacture and sell Limex.

Limex paper outperforms regular paper because it is water-repellent and resistant to age deterioration. Limex is made of limestone, which is readily available in many parts of the world. Since Limex paper does not use wood as a raw material, it can contribute to the preservation of forests. Another advantage is that it requires almost no water to produce. Limestone is readily available in places across the globe, and Limex can easily be made even in arid countries and regions.
Yamasaki envisages future exports of Limex plants as model facilities to carry out local production for local consumption, combined with recycling. Touring the globe to find business partners, he has found great interest, with special enthusiasm from regions where water is scarce, such as the Middle East and Singapore. In addition, Limex paper manufacturing plants can be much smaller in scale than regular paper plants.

In the manufacturing process, limestone and plastic is heated as it is combined, rolled and stretched until very thin. It is tough and cannot easily be torn. One can also write on it when wet or under water.

Practical applications include name cards and large envelopes that are strong and durable. Restaurants are also using Limex to print menus that are durable, waterproof and colorful. Other applications include smart phone cases, flower pots, plastic bowls and durable textbooks.

Amazingly, Limex may soon cause our colorful pictures or written documents to last far longer, while also conserving water and wood! The Bible speaks of things that will deteriorate and other things that will last much longer. Isn’t it wonderful the technology that helps us produce products that won’t deteriorate so fast but God’s Word still says:

The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever. (Is. 40:8).

¹⁶For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. ¹⁷For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; ¹⁸While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. (2 Cor. 4:16-18).

Some things we cannot see are of great and eternal value. That is why the Bible urges us to base our actions and decisions on things unseen, while enduring our present troubles.
Do you know Christ so you can look forward to an eternity with Christ not filled with temporal problems but eternal; not temporal fun but eternal joy!