An efficient eco-friendly approach for recycling of newspaper waste

Abstract

In this study, a chemical reduction strategy was explored for deinking of newspaper waste using xylano-pectinolytic catalysts. A remarkable reduction of 40% in toxic chemicals consumption was obtained by introducing this enzymatic approach of deinking along with improved level of various physical and optical properties. Similarly, a reduction of 18.89% and 17.68% in BOD, COD values of effluent has also been noticed. This combined deinking methodology also resulted in a gain of 5.82% in breaking length, 6.45% in tear factor, 8.57% in burst factor and 9.64% in viscosity, which greatly improved the quality of the handsheets. The study revealed that enzymatic deinking followed by chemical deinking with 40% less chemicals consumption, could be an effective method for reducing the negative impact over the environment caused by 100% deinking chemicals. This is the first report of newspaper waste deinking using xylano-pectinolytic catalysts produced concurrently in the same production media by a bacterial isolate using agricultural wastes as carbon sources.