Comparative Biodegradability Assessment of Different Types of paper

Abstract

Production and use of paper materials are excessively increasing with the development of civilization thereby making its disposal challenging. It is very important to have an accurate indication of the rate of different types of paper decay which would ultimately assist the waste management sector. The study investigates the rate of biodegradation of four available grades of paper in a captive compost environment. To investigate this, the papers were cut into strips according to the test specification and buried into the compost soil to let them biodegrade. Sampling was done periodically at certain sampling points to measure the extent of biodegradation by measuring tensile strength with a “tensometer”. The tensile strength data of the experimental strips was compared with the same of controls (unburied) and also among the paper types by using different statistical methods. The result demonstrated that the recycled paper degrades more quickly followed by glossy papers, which take some more days to degrade utterly. The higher rate of biodegradation of recycled paper might have occurred due to its chemical pulping where chlorine is normally used as bleaching agent. The glossy paper also degraded promptly at its 1^st and 3^rd day of burial but took some more days to degrade completely. The reason may be the starch coating has accelerated the biodegradation at initial stage. The newsprint with ink did not fully biodegrade even after 21 days while newsprint without ink take 16 days to vanish. It is assumed that the lignin and ink content of newsprint without ink and newsprint with ink respectively may have inhibited biodegradation. To sum up, composition of principle raw materials and processing style contributes significantly in biodegradability of paper products. Composting, an eco-friendly option can solve the paper disposal problem which reduces the landfill cost and at the same time produces good quality marketable compost.

Keywords: Biodegradability Assessment; Biodegradation; Composting; Waste Management.