Experiencing making paper from recycled straw

Coming to events on environmental protection such as Recycling Festival - Hue 2023, or the program "De Do Cuon Di" (Gone with Do), many attendees enjoyed a booth with recycled items made from straw. Cards, paper, bags, etc., attract a lot of attention from people who love environmentally friendly products.

"I was curious and went to check out the booth of the "Straw’s Journey" project. There are environmentally friendly products here, such as drawing paper, bags, bookmarks, paper fans, etc. More specifically, I also experienced making paper from recycled straw," Nguyen Quoc Toan, a student at the University of Education, Hue University shared.

"From the fields, straw goes to the city, and is turned into paper, and dreams are drawn," said Le Van Linh, a student of the Faculty of Environment, University of Sciences, Hue University, member of the project "Straw’s Journey" introduced.

According to Linh, straw has many uses such as making animal feed, or composting, etc. These uses bring economic efficiency to farmers but are still quite small compared to the current potential of this raw material source.

Facing that situation, Linh and other young people from the Faculty of Environment, University of Sciences, Hue University cherished a project called "Straw’s Journey" to utilize straw, a by-product from agriculture, into a valuable resource, helping to minimize the use of single-use plastic products and reduce plastic waste, along with economic development in rural areas.

The products are recycled from straw

“Currently, farmers often have the habit of burning straw after harvesting crops, which causes many harmful effects because burned straw creates high columns of smoke, polluting the environment. Burning straw also wastes resources when straw could be used for recycling. From those reasons, we came up with the idea of "Straw’s Journey", bringing straw from the fields to create environmentally friendly products," Linh said.

The project's method of producing paper from straw is implemented under normal environmental conditions; it does not require high temperature and pressure, and consumes little energy and chemicals.

“Firstly, we removed grass, grain, and insects from the straw and cut it into 5 - 8cm long pieces. After cutting, we added caustic soda solution to separate the straw into fine powder and cooked at 980⁰C for 3 hours. Then we let the mixture cool down, and grinded it finely. Next, we put the pulp in water and proceeded to screen the paper, and finally dried it," said Le Quy Hien, a member of the project.

One thing to note in the process of screening paper is to mix it well so that the straw powder spreads evenly on the surface of the screen, as well as filter out the husks to make the paper surface more even and beautiful.

Paper produced from straw pulp has soft properties, high toughness, and opaque yellow color. The moisture content of paper made from straw is qualified for use in businesses in the market such as cosmetics, fashion, jewelry, accessories, services, etc. "The advantage of the product is that it is durable, environmentally friendly, easily renewable and decomposable. The weak point is that the paper surface is not smooth and still contains some impurities," Quy Hien analyzed.

With high applicability, environmental friendliness, use of available raw materials, and ease of implementation, the "Straw’s Journey" project has received 100% funding from the Plastic Waste Reduction Initiative competition - Hue 2023.

"During the past time, the "Straw’s Journey" project has gone on journeys and participated in many environmental events to spread the message of reducing plastic waste and avoiding wasting resources. In the coming time, the project will continue to conduct surveys on the status of straw use in different areas in the province, thereby finding stable sources of raw materials for the project, while continuing to spread the message of environmental protection to people," Le Van Linh shared.