Conference Proceedings

Abstract

The use and applications of plastics have brought in its wake unpredictable and undesirable trail of waste and consequential sanitation and waste management and sanitation challenges. Polyethylene has not been spared of this conundrum considering the fact that it is the material used to package water, popularly referred as ‘pure water’ in most West African counties, including Ghana. Substantially large amounts of palm fruit fiber waste find their way into landfills and incinerators also creating waste management problems. To help reduce the environmental, sanitation and waste management challenges associated with waste sachet water polyethylene and palm fruit fiber there is the need to strategically deal with the situation from long term perspective. This paper proposes a technique for developing composite material using waste polyethylene and palm fruit fiber. It is expected that, generally, characterized composites so designed using the proposed technique will find invaluable applications in the materials and manufacturing industries. Specifically, it is expected that the wood and furniture, packaging, automobile and building and construction sectors of the economy will find applications of the composites so developed very useful.