Packaging is a ubiquitous commodity that is being used in increasing quantities. This increased use has led to a problem with disposal, with increased quantities of used packaging being sent to landfill. One sustainable solution suggested is the use of biobased, biodegradable packaging. An example of this is paper based pulp moulded products which have been used previously for a number of packaging applications. In this paper the feasibility of replacing paper fibre with waste cereal straw fibre is examined. The aim was to produce materials that could be used to form flat, round trays, such as Highlights  Pulp moulded flat, round packaging trays were produced using straw.  Intrinsic tensile properties improved compared to Expanded Polystyrene (EPS)  Intrinsic flexural properties of straw material were lower than EPS.  Product performance matched EPS performance with changes to product thickness  Straw based materials were biodegradable.

This paper investigates the addition of paper making reject fibre into pilot-scale MDF panels with the aim of creating cost savings in board manufacture, without compromising board properties. The contamination of the paper rejects by trace metals was assessed and determined not to be an impediment to use of the material in panels. Dried paper rejects were added to the board furnish in varying amounts. Initial trials utilising 0.25 m 2 boards showed a positive results in terms of improved MOR and MOE when adding paper rejects. On upscaling to 1 m 2 boards this positive effect was reduced to non-significant levels. However, there was no significant reduction in board properties at the highest levels of reject fibre addition. This suggests that waste paper rejects may be used to reduce the amount of wood fibre in MDF without compromising board properties.