PACKAGING MATERIAL AND METHOD THEREOF FIELD OF INVENTION

The field of invention pertains to recycling of waste packaging material. More specifically it pertains to a weaveable fiber made from discarded cartons of composite packaging material and method thereof.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Definitions

Fiber: Fiber or fibre (from the Latin fibra) is defined as "A natural or synthetic substance that is significantly longer than it is wide. " (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiber). Fibers are often used in the manufacture of other materials. The strongest engineering materials often incorporate fibers, for example carbon fiber and ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene. Synthetic fibers can often be produced very cheaply and in large amounts compared to natural fibers, but for clothing natural fibers can give some benefits, such as comfort, over their synthetic counterparts.

Carton: A carton is a box or container usually made of paperboard and sometimes of corrugated fiberboard. Many types of cartons are used in packaging.

Composite packaging: It is a packaging consisting of an outer packaging and an inner receptacle constructed so that the inner receptacle and the outer packaging form one integral packaging. The composite packaging material e.g. plastic and paper, metal and paper and finally one of the most popular packaging composite material i.e. tetra Paks consisting of plastic, paper and metal arranged in multiple layers as shown in figure below. Structure of the Tetra Pak material is as below:

Tetra Paks- Tetra Pak is the 'brand name' of a carton manufactured by the Tetra Pak Company having its headquarters in Sweden and Switzerland. 'Tetra Pak' is the world's leading food processing and packaging solutions company (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetra_Pak). A Tetra Pak is a type of plasticized cardboard carton folded from a single sheet into a box shape. The initial cartons were triangular but were gradually replaced by square and rectangular cartons. The rectangular Tetra Paks which we commonly see today and which are used for 200 ml fruit juices are known as 'Tetra Briks'. The Tetra Brik comes in either chilled (Tetra Brik) or ambient (Tetra Brik Aseptic) package types. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetra_Brik). Tetra Pak cartons are used for packing a variety of liquids which include milk, fermented milk, juices, energy drinks etc.

Material of Tetra Paks- Tetra Pak cartons are primarily made from wood fibre that has been refined into paperboard. To this, are added protective layers of polyethylene and aluminum. These three materials are layered together using heat and pressure to form a six layered armour which protects the contents from light, oxygen, air, dirt and moisture. Furthermore Tetra Pak cartons are lightweight and easy to transport, which has contributed to their popularity as a packaging material. Environmental aspects of discarded cartons of composite packaging material

Discarded cartons of composite packaging material are a source of pollution because they do not degrade owing to presence of plastics and metal. Also, their recycling poses immense challenges because the materials have to be separated. Since cartons of composite packaging material e.g. Tetra Paks contain different layers of plastic and aluminum in addition to raw paper, they cannot be recycled as "normal" paper waste, but need to go to special recycling units for separation of the different materials. Recycling of the aseptic packages has indeed been one of Tetra Pak's big challenges. Tetra Pak has operated limited recycling since the mid-1980s, introducing a recycling program for its cartons in Canada as early as 1990. In 2000, Tetra Pak invested $20 million (€500,000) in the first recycling plant for aseptic packages in Thailand. Thus, used cartons are not waste but valuable raw material for useful new products provided the technology is available for recycling the tetra paks in an efficient, economical and eco-friendly manner.

As Tetra Pak cartons are made largely from virgin wood fibres, they are an especially valuable paper source to recycle. The fibers are long, strong and can be used again several times. Cartons usually go to paper mills after collection and sorting. In the mill they are mixed with water, either separately or with other types of paper, to create paper pulp. During this same process, the plastic and aluminium is separated from the pulp. The pulp is used to make new paper products, e.g. corrugated board, tissue paper and notebooks. The remaining mix of plastic and aluminium can be processed like a composite plastic material to produce products such as roof sheets, pallets and panel boards. {Reference: http://rur.co.in/tetrapak.html). Aluminum and paraffin can be used in industry. Used Tetra Pak packages have also been used as construction material in different design projects and in landfills.

Limitations of existing methods of recycling cartons of composite packaging material i. Process involves extensive use of water

ii. Special facilities are needed for re-cycling e.g. mill

iii. Process is energy intensive - extensive machinery, manpower and energy is needed for recycling These limitations have been overcome in present invention which discloses a method of recycling of the used Tetra Paks to produce weavable fiber i.e. a useful product. The fiber is quite strong can be used to make baskets and other useful products including outdoor furniture.

Advantages offered by the present invention: i. Less water requirement- Water involved in re-cycling is 90% less since the

component materials of the Tetra Paks are not separated at all.

ii. Less energy requirement- While conventional weavable fibers such as cotton use 55 MJ of energy per kg of fiber, the fiber of present invention uses less than 1 MJ since the processing operations are minimal involving only cutting and shredding. iii. Economical- Recycling facilities needed are minimal- no mill facilities are needed at all. Weavable fiber rolls from Tetra Paks can be easily produced in a small facility using very basic machinery.

Thus, machinery, manpower and energy required is significantly less as compared to traditional/existing methods since the paper fiber is not separated and processed at all. It is the whole Tetra Pak material which is converted into a useful product i.e. weavable fiber.

A search of the international patent databases including database of Indian Patents, published literature and also digital databases revealed that the weavable fiber of the present invention obtained from discarded cartons of composite packaging material has not been disclosed anywhere in the prior art.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the invention to disclose a weavable fiber made from discarded cartons of composite packaging material.

One more object of the invention is to disclose a method of producing weavable fiber from discarded cartons of composite packaging material.

Still another object of the invention is to disclose a method of re-cycling discarded cartons of composite packaging material to produce a useful product i.e. weavable fiber. A still further object is to disclose a weavable fiber made from discarded cartons of composite packaging material in which the energy and water usage per kg production is drastically reduced.

Yet another object is to disclose the possible areas of application of the weavable fiber made from discarded cartons of composite packaging material. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention discloses a weavable fiber made from discarded cartons of composite packaging material and method thereof. The present invention discloses a new type of eco-friendly, weavable fiber which is made from discarded cartons of composite packaging material - a type of plasticized cardboard carton for milk and other drinks, folded from a single sheet into a box shape. The composite packaging material consists of plastic, paper and metal. As a result, the fiber of the present invention derived from the composite packaging material is tough and can be easily woven into useful articles e.g. waste bins, baskets, mats, partitions, outdoor furniture etc. The biggest advantage offered by the fiber of the present invention is that it has a very small carbon footprint- it hardly uses any energy. While conventional weavable fibers such as cotton use 55 MJ of energy per kg of fiber, the fiber of present invention uses less than 1 MJ. (Ref: LCA: New Zealand Merino Wool Total Energy Use ", Barber and Pellow, cited in website https://oecotextiles.wordpress.com/category/embodied-energy- in-textiles/; See Table 1 and Table 2 below). Secondly water requirement is almost 100 times less. Discarded cartons of composite packaging material are a plasticized cardboard carton for milk and other drinks, folded from a single sheet into a box shape. Discarded cartons of composite packaging material are primarily made from wood fiber that has been refined into paperboard. To this protective layers of polyethylene and aluminum are added. These three materials are layered together using heat and pressure to form a six layered armor which protects the contents from light, oxygen, air, dirt and moisture. Owing to the presence of plastics and metal, composite packaging material cannot be recycled like normal paper but must be sent to special facilities where the plastics, paper and metal can be separated and utilized. As a result, recycling becomes expensive and energy intensive. The present invention has overcome the disadvantages of existing methods. It discloses a useful product viz. weavable fiber made from discarded cartons of composite packaging material in which the individual components of cartons viz. paper, plastic and metal do not have to be separated and the whole discarded containers can be recycled. As a result, recycling becomes economical, eco-friendly and efficient. There is hardly any wastage and the composite packaging material get recycled very conveniently. The weavable fiber produced from the discarded cartons of composite packaging material is very rugged and strong and can be used to produce a variety of products including woven baskets, trays, outdoor furniture, partitions, mats etc. The method of producing the weavable fiber from discarded cartons of composite packaging material involves cutting open the containers to produce flat sheets, washing the sheets, shredding them into long strips of defined width, pressing and gluing the strips into long strips using a well-defined technical process and finally producing rolls of strips in form of 'weavable fiber'. This fiber can be easily woven to produce products of commercial importance viz. baskets, trays, outdoor furniture, partitions, mats etc.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention discloses a weavable fiber made from discarded cartons of composite packaging material and method thereof.

The weavable fiber consists of discarded cartons of composite packaging material viz. paper, plastic and metal without any separation of the individual materials. The fiber has immense strength and resilience due to which it is suitable for use in outdoor woven furniture e.g. cots, hammocks, chairs, tables etc. and other woven articles. The fiber is available in form of rolls of well-defined length and also the fiber has pre-defined, optimized width to obtain maximum weavable fiber from a discarded cartons of composite packaging material, without wastage and also to ensure easy and convenient weaving. The yield of weavable fiber from discarded Tetra Paks is given in Table 1 below. The total energy consumption and water requirement per meter of weavable fiber is given in Table 2.

Table 1: Yield of weavable fiber from discarded Tetra Paks

Table 2: Energy Requirement per Kg of existing weavable fibers vs fiber of new invention

* SOURCE: "LCA: New Zealand Merino Wool Total Energy Use ", Barber and Pellow, cited in website https://oecotextiles.wordpress.com/category/embodied-energy- in-textiles/

** As per theoretical calculations carried out by inventor

It is pertinent to mention here that once any material becomes a "yarn" or "filament" i.e. weavable material, the amount of energy and conversion process to weave that yarn into a textile is pretty consistent, whether the yarn is wool, cotton, or synthetic. There is no dramatic difference in the amount of energy needed to weave fibers into fabric depending on fiber type (Reference: 24th session of the FAO Committee on Commodity Problems IGG on Hard Fibers of the United Nations). The processing is generally the same whether the fiber is nylon, cotton, hemp, wool or polyester: thermal energy required per meter of cloth is 4,500-5,500 Kcal and electrical energy required per meter of cloth is 0.45-0.55 kWh. ["Improving profits with energy- efficiency enhancements ", December 2008, Journal for Asia on Textile and Apparel). This translates into huge quantities of fossil fuels - both to create energy directly needed to power the mills, produce heat and steam and power air conditioners, as well as indirectly to create the many chemicals used in production. In addition, the textile industry has one of the lowest efficiencies in energy utilization because it is largely antiquated.

Environmental Impact of Present Invention

The impact of the present invention in terms of fossil fuel and energy saving is huge in terms of substitution of other fibers used to produce same articles e.g. woven bins, mats, partition materials, outdoor furniture etc. The textile industry is one of the largest sources of greenhouse gases on Earth. In 2008, annual global textile production was estimated at 60 billion kilograms (KG) of fabric. The estimated energy and water needed to produce that amount of fabric was 1,074 billion kWh of electricity or 132 million metric tons of coal and between 6 - 9 trillion liters of water [Rupp, Jurg, "Ecology and Economy in Textile Finishing" , Textile World, Nov/Dec 20084].

Water saving- It is reported that 20,000 liters of water is needed to produce just 1 kg of cotton! (http.V/www.thistailoredlife.com/blog/2016/1/28/cotton-the-g ood-the-ba

In contrast the weavable material of the present invention, though weavable like cotton threads is not a replacement for cotton as the properties are entirely different. However the water requirement to produce one kg of weavable material of the present invention is drastically less- hardly about 20 liters vs 20,000 liters used by cotton!

Method of producing the weavable fiber from discarded cartons of composite packaging material

Cartons of composite packaging material are primarily made from wood fiber that has been refined into paperboard. To this, protective layers of polyethylene and aluminum are added. These three materials are layered together using heat and pressure to form a six layered armor which protects the contents from light, oxygen, air, dirt and moisture. Owing to the presence of plastics and metal, cartons of composite packaging material cannot be recycled like normal paper but must be sent to special facilities where the plastics, paper and metal can be separated and utilized. As a result, recycling becomes expensive and energy intensive.

In the present invention weavable fiber is made from cartons of composite packaging material in a manner that the individual components of the cartons viz. paper, plastic and metal do not have to be separated and the whole discarded containers can be recycled. As a result, recycling becomes economical, eco-friendly and efficient.

The steps involved in brief are as below: i. Cutting open the cartons to produce flat sheets

ii. Washing the sheets with water followed by drying

iii. Shredding the sheets into long strips of defined width with an optimal width of 2 cm

iv. Joining the strips into long strips using either heat or glue v. Mechanical pressing of the joints so that strips have uniform thickness vi. Rolling the strips into 'rolls' for commercial sale.

The same are elaborated below: i. Cutting open the discarded containers of composite packaging material: The containers are manually opened and cut using scissors or suitable automated/semi- automated machinery. Once cut and opened, the same are arranged in form of flat sheets.

ii. Washing, Cleaning and drying of the cartons: The flat sheets obtained by cutting open the cartons are washed thoroughly with water, cleaned and dried using a heavy duty industrial washer and drier.

iii. Shredding: The flat sheets are fed into a specially designed heavy duty shredder in which the width of the 'shredder' is optimally set to produce strips of width 2 cm. The width of the strips can be easily varied but inventor found 2 cm as the optimal width which was easy to weave and also minimized wastage of the carton material. iv. Joining of the strips: The strips are joined by using two methods:

a. Heating- ends of two strips are placed together so that plastic coated sides are in contact with each other. Pressure is applied gently using a heat sealer so that the plastic melts and 'fuses' the strips to form a longer strip. By repeating the process, a long strip is obtained,

b. Gluing- A strong glue is applied to ends of the strips resulting in joining of the strips

v. Flattening of the joined ends to give a uniform thickness strip: The joined strip is passed through a heavy duty roller which flattens the 'bump' where the two ends were joined thus giving a weavable strip of uniform thickness.

vi. Rolling of strips: The joined and flattened strips are then rolled into a bundle to give a commercially saleable and industrially useful 'fiber' which can be easily woven into useful products e.g. baskets, trays, outdoor furniture, partitions, mats etc.

Novelty, Inventive Step and Industrial Application

Novelty: The present invention discloses a new type of eco-friendly, weavable fiber made from discarded cartons of composite packaging material (plastic, paper and metal). The fiber is in form of long rolls and width of the strip is optimally 2 cm, though it can be easily increased or decreased as per requirement. The biggest advantage offered by the fiber of the present invention is that it has a very small carbon footprint- it hardly uses any energy. While conventional weavable fibers such as cotton use 55 MJ of energy per kg of fiber, the fiber of present invention uses less than 1 MJ. Also the water requirement is almost 100 times less!

Inventive Step: The technical advancement of knowledge lies in disclosing a weavable fiber from cartons of composite packaging material and the detailed process by which it can be made on industrial scale without separating the individual components of the cartons. In the present invention weavable fiber is made from cartons of composite packaging material in a manner that the individual components of the cartons viz. paper, plastic and metal do not have to be separated and the whole discarded containers can be recycled. As a result, recycling becomes economical, eco-friendly and efficient. Energy and water requirements to make this fiber are drastically less than that of other fibers. The fiber can be produced cheaply due to which the invention has considerable economic significance.

There is no disclosure of such a fiber in the prior art which makes it amply clear that it was not obvious to persons skilled in the art. The method of producing the weavable fiber from cartons of composite packaging material involves cutting open the containers to produce flat sheets, washing the sheets, shredding them into long strips of defined width with an optimal width to ensure reduced wastage and also easy weaving, pressing and gluing the strips into long strips using either heat or glue and finally rolling the strips into 'rolls' for commercial sale. This fiber can be easily woven to produce products of commercial importance viz. baskets, trays, outdoor furniture, partitions, mats etc.

Industrial Application: The present invention finds huge industrial application as the fiber of the present invention derived from the cartons of composite packaging material which is tough and can be easily woven into useful articles e.g. waste bins, baskets, mats, partitions, outdoor furniture etc.