Recycling of synthetic waster wig fibers, human hair and sawdust in production of umusatsi ceiling board Case of Kigali City

Abstract

This report outlines the utilization of wig wastes, human hair and wood sawdust in production of UMUSATSI ceiling board to be used in construction industries. At present human hair and wig wastes are determined as non-degradable substances as well as polluted materials for environment that are obtainable in salons at cheap cost. Utilizing wig wastes, human hair and wood sawdust as construction materials especially in production of UMUSATSI ceiling board is one of a promising step towards a sustainable resources and waste management. Human hair used as fiber reinforcement, reduces environmental pollution along with board’s weakness in tension. In this study, naturally available human hair and wig wastes were collected, cleaned and added to particle board. Performance of reinforced sawdust board was investigated with addition of various percentages of human hair in the mixture. Waste wig fibers and human hair are often disposed of in their volume on landfills, thus results into the heaviest environmental risks. Recycling and reusing them is a way by which this challenge can be over came. In such way, we mixed them with sawdust and wood fix glue to form a composite mix for UMUSATSI ceiling board production. It can be observed that compressive strength and split tensile strength of the board was found maximum while addition of human hair used in board considering as fiber material. These waste wig fibers and human hair are supposed to overcome the challenges that the existing Ceiling boards especially gypsum board faces including shearing, cracks, lack of moisture and water resistance, resistance to tensile forces and low compressive strength. The Sample preparation involved mixing wood fix glue, water, sawdust, human hair and waste wig fibers. The general outcome convinces that waste wig fibers and human hair showed promising performance in ceiling boards to be developed in enhancing water and moisture permeability resistance, cracks resistance, and promoting tensile strength in ceiling boards at an optimum mix of 10% and 5% volume fraction respectively.