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Abstract
Disposable paper cups are usually composed of high-grade paper board and an inner polyethylene coatings and are extensively used in daily life. However, most disposable paper cups are only used for a short time and then incinerated or accumulated in landfill at the end of their service due to the difficulty in separating the components, leading to a serious threat to our ecosystem. Therefore, developing a facile and green method to recycle and reuse disposable paper cups is vital. By using ionic liquid 1-allyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride (AmimCl) as a solvent, transparent and homogenous cellulose/polyethylene composite films were successfully prepared from used bamboo-based disposable paper cups through the “one-pot method”, without any pre-treatment. It was found that there was a transformation of cellulose I to II after the dissolution and regeneration processes, and the crystallinity degree of the regenerated cellulose-based materials decreased significantly, resulting in a change in thermal properties. Meanwhile, compared to traditional pure cellulose films, the composite films possessed good UV-shielding properties and hydrophobicity. Moreover, they also displayed good mechanical properties. Additionally, the size of the ground PE coatings displayed obvious effects on the structures and properties of the composite films, where the CPE100 (sieved with 100–200 mesh) possessed the most homogeneous texture and the highest tensile strength (82 Mpa), higher than that of commercial polyethylene film (9–12 MPa), showing superiority as packaging or wrapping materials. Consequently, the goals to fabricate uniform cellulose/polyethylene composite films and valorize the solid waste from disposable paper cups were simultaneously achieved by a facile and green “one-pot method”.
Highlights
The results showed that the cellulose/polyethylene composite films had good hydrophobicity, UV-shielding, and mechanical and thermal properties, displaying great potential to be used in the packaging and wrapping fields
The solution states for used disposable paper cups (UDPCs) of different sizes displayed by the POM pictures after 3 h and 4 h were similar, indicating that most fibers of UDPCs can be dissolved in allyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride (AmimCl) under mild conditions after 3 h
By using 1-allyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride (AmimCl) as a solvent, transparent and uniform cellulose/polyethylene composite films were obtained from used bamboobased disposable paper cups through a “one-pot method” without any pretreatment, where the dissolved lignocellulose was employed as the matrix and the un-dissolved PE coatings were used as the additives
Summary
With the development of the economy and the continuous growth of the global population, disposable products are widely used and promoted [1–4]. The production process of paper cups consumes large quantities of natural resources and discharges vast volumes of carbon dioxide, resulting in a significant waste of energy and an increased greenhouse effect [11–13]. Recycling and reusing disposable paper cups is important and meaningful, and is essential for the protection of our ecosystem and to make full use of natural resources. Large quantities of used disposable paper cups (UDPCs) are incinerated or landfilled in the environment [6,12,15]. These two processes are recognized as ecologically unfriendly due to the emission of toxic gases or the un-degradability of the inner thin polyethylene (PE) coatings [5,16,17]. Waste recovery is urgent and meaningful, and developing an environmentally-friendly processes to recycle and reuse these used paper cups is vital
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