Using industrial waste of old corrugating containers paper recycling mill in composite panels manufacturing

Abstract

There is a considerable amount of waste produced daily from processing old corrugating containers. Dumping this waste product incurs a considerable cost to a paper recycling mill. In this study a sample of waste containing 45% fibrous and 55% non-fibrous solid was collected from an old corrugating containers paper-recycling mill and analyzed in a laboratory. The waste was used to produce wastes-urea formaldehyde composites and wastes-polyethylene composites. Physical and mechanical properties of the resulting manufactured panels were compared with commercially produced medium density fiberboard and particle board. The results presented the possibility of panel production from waste, even without inclusion of any additional material. Additives would obviously enhance the physical and mechanical characteristics of a product to render it more competitive with commercially produced panels. The results also revealed that water absorbability and thickness swelling of panels were much less compared with similar commercially available products. The mechanical characteristics of the manufactured panels were weaker relative to the commercially available ones, probably due to differences in density and thickness. Hence, wastes-urea formaldehyde composites and wastes-polyethylene composites panels can be recommended for application if physical properties are more important than mechanical properties.