Paper Mill Waste Project
Purpose
The purpose of this project is to find a useful way to use paper mill waste or find a productive way to get rid of it completely. As of now the waste sits in a huge pond and takes up space. It smells bad to the surrounding neighbors and causes run off into the river. If someone could come up with one or multiple ways to use the slug productively, safe an efficient it wouldn’t be such a gross problem to the people.
Plan
I have designed a way to make your own cat litter out of the dried up paper mill waste. It’s easy enough for anyone to do and does not take very long.
Materials
Rectangle Tub
Dish soap (with desired scent)
Paper (Shredded)
Water
Gloves
Paper Mill Waste
Baking Soda
Strainer
You will have to transport the waste from paper mill to your house where you will make the kitty litter. If they do not give the waste you already dried out bring a tub that will seal shut to prevent any spilling in your car. It might be a good idea to even place a town under the container incase of any accidents the towel will absorb it rather the backseat of your car.
Procedure
First you need to find a way to shred up your paper either by hand or with a paper shredder which would be more efficient. You should agree enough paper to over fill the tub you are going to use as it will shrink once it has been wetted an dried out.
Next, it is possible to do make this mixture in the initial tub you are going to keep it in after its all done but might be a better idea to mix it up in something else to keep you from having to wash the tub out multiple times. You need to combined the shredded paper, paper mill waste and water together in something with enough room to mix it together. The amount of water you use will be based on how much it takes to get everything completely soaked, don’t worry about using to much because you will strain the excess out later. It’d be a good idea to put gloves on now and use your hands to squash and mush the mixture together, try to avoid making a huge mess, a container with taller sides could be helpful such as an old trash bucket. Mix until it becomes a goopy gross blob.
Now we want to make this cat litter smell better! In a small dish or bowl from the kitchen mix together dish soap and baking powder. Squirt about a teaspoon of dish soap in the bowl then, add about 2 tablespoons of baking powder to the dish soap. You might start out adding a little at a time and stir continuously till it is all dissolved into the soap.
Back to the paper waste mixture. Take the container with the paper waste mixture in it either to the sink or the bathtub which ever you are more comfortable working in. Get your strainer ready in the sink and in small handfuls at a time transfers the waste mix from the bucket to the strainer till there is none left in the bucket. Dump the excess water in the bucket out. Squeeze any excess water out of the waste in the strainer and transfer the mix back to the empty bucket.
Next, you need to mix the baking powder/dish soup mixture into the clump of waste. Using your hands work the mixed together till you think it has been evenly spread.
Your almost done! Put the mixture in the tub you are going to place out for you cat, let the mixture sit out long enough to completely dry out. Once is it dry put your gloves back on if desired and break up the dry mixture so your cat is able to dig in it comfortably.
Chemistry
Dish soap – CH3(CH2)10CH2(OCH2CH2)nOSO3Na
Baking soda – NaHCO3
When you mix together the dish soap and baking soda a chemical reaction takes place. It is apparent because baking soda changes its identity when it dissolves into the liquid dish soap and together they become a new chemical mixture. Combining all the products to make the out come of cat litter is also a chemical reaction. Each individual ingredient undergoes a change of some kind, for example the paper becomes wet and kind of dissolves, the water eventually evaporates when you set it out to dry and everything becomes dry and flaky when you are done.
This product is very useful and efficient. Buying dish soap and baking soda would be a lot cheaper than buying a box of cat litter. One bottle of soap and a box of baking soda would last a long time because you do not use very much when making one batch of the kitty litter. You are also recycling paper by using to make the kitty litter rather throwing it away. It takes about 15 minutes to make the mixture and probably a couple hours for it to fully dry out and be ready to use. Plus, using the paper mill waste is a great way to recycling the waste as well as being environmentally friendly which is important to a lot of people.
When it is time to throw the cat litter away an make a new batch since the majority of the mixture is paper you will be able to recycle it. This means you are not throwing away anything throughout the whole process of this project it is completely recyclable. It could also be biodegradable which says that is possible when you are done to mix it in with the soils in your back yard with a little plant food to help them grow.
The main problem this will take care of is getting rid of a lot of the paper mill waste. It certainly won’t get rid of all of it but it is a good start. Pet stores could get bins in their stores where you can scoop out the desired amount of paper mill waste to take home an make the cat litter. Sort of like candy bins at winco where you can get as much as you want an the price is based on the amount you have in lbs. To make this plan a reality the waste would have to be dried out before transportation to prevent huge messes.
Making your own cat litter will also ensure you that there’s no bad dyes or unwanted ingredients in your cat litter that could be bad for your cat. It’s easy, efficient, has a much smaller cost than purchasing bags of litter, it recycles your paper and the paper mill waste as well as only takes a short time to make!
Website source
• http://thegreenists.com/pets/tip-of-the-day-make-your-own-kitty-litter/1044
– taken from site were the example pictures and how to make kitty litter
finished kitty litter example
Shredded paper example
