Abstract
Paper mill sludges are discharged around 870,000 M/T annually. Only 30% of the paper mill sludge have been recycled and the rest has been disposed by land fill, incineration, ocean abandonment and other ways. Because of overall prohibition of sludge disposal by London Dumping Convention in 2012, a urgent counter measure for paper mill sludge must be provided. In this paper, some basic experiments were carried out to develop a tray cell pot using paper mill sludge for increasing the recycling potential of the wasted sludge. To establish the manufacturing parameters, the tray cell pots were made with three types of materials including virgin pulp, old news paper and corrugated board mixed in a blend tank of a molding machine. The bending force and moisture content of the produced tray cell pots was measured to confirm the application capability. The tray cell pot could be manufactured under the condition of over 20% of virgin pulp, 40% of old news paper added. However, the corrugated board could not be used because of the glutinous substance included. The produced tray cell pot absorbed water very easily and the bending force decreased rapidly. The waterproof material must be used to applicate the produced tray cell pot in plant growing fields.