Mechanical and Durability Performance of Recycled Tetra Pak PolyAl–Rice Husk Wood-like Boards for Urban Furniture

Abstract

Global outdoor furniture consumes large amounts of virgin wood and polyolefins, while multilayer beverage cartons and rice husks are often landfilled or burnt despite their polymeric and lignocellulosic value. This study aims to evaluate the feasibility of converting both waste streams into pilot-scale, wood-like boards for low-load urban furniture using an industrially relevant extrusion plus compression-moulding route, and to identify a balanced PolyAl–rice husk formulation. Hybrid composites based on recycled Tetra Pak PolyAl and ground rice husk were manufactured as full-thickness boards and characterised in terms of density, tensile and flexural behaviour, Shore D hardness, and moisture uptake. A preliminary UV screening was also performed using short-term narrow-band UVC irradiation at 254 nm, which should not be interpreted as outdoor weathering. Increasing rice husk content enhanced hardness and stiffness but increased water uptake, evidencing the expected stiffness–durability trade-off in lignocellulosic-filled systems. Overall, the intermediate 70PolyAl–30rice husk composition provided the most balanced performance for the targeted low-load applications, supporting an industrial symbiosis pathway that valorises two locally available residues into a potentially scalable product.