A review of recycled use of post consumer waste paper in construction

Abstract

The productive use of waste materials represents a means of reducing some of the problems associated with solid waste management. The process minimizes the use of natural resources and in some cases results in the production of environmental friendly products. Ever since the invention of paper, it has formed an important part of human daily activities. With uses in many applications due to its versatile properties. The need to recycle it is thus paramount upon the fact that, the more it is being utilized for several applications, the more the amount of waste paper generate. However, the major percentage of these finds their way to the municipal solid waste stream. This review identifies and discusses some recent research that investigates the potential uses of post-consumer waste paper in several, civil engineering construction materials and then proffers a proposed direction for future work. Several research gaps were identified. These includes: the need to establish a standard mix proportion of papercrete for different application, high moisture absorption of building materials made from waste paper, addressing the contradiction between the hygroscopic properties of paper fibre and cement hydration moisture requirement. In the light of these, an investigation to develop an environmentally friendly, nonload bearing, lightweight building block from waste paper, without the use of cement and with properties suitable for use as walling unit has thus been proposed.