According to US EPA, �commercial establishments generate a large portion  of the estimated 31.4 million tons of corrugated cardboard discarded  each year�. Once deposited into the trash or recycling bin, this  cardboard is referred to as old corrugated cardboard, or OCC. In 2008,  it is estimated that about 77% of cardboard boxes were recycled or  reused. However, the fibers that make up cardboard get shorter each time  they are pulped, which means that cardboard can only be recycled four  to five times before it disintegrates. The resulting waste cardboard  ends up as Municipal Solid Waste (MSW). We propose an efficient process  to convert waste cardboard to value-added, environmentally benign, and  biodegradable polymers, such as, polyhydroxybutanoate (PHB). The work  includes (i) an optimized pre-treatment process of cardboard waste, (ii)  enzymatic hydrolysis for the conversion of waste cardboard to glucose,  (iii) biosynthesis and characterization of PHB.

Conversion of waste cardboard to biodegradable plastic

243rd National Meeting (2012)

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