Rice straw, rice husk and paper sludge are by-products and industrial waste, and are beneficial resources
as raw biomass materials used for manufacturing value-added composite products.We investigated the
effect on selected mechanical properties of adding rice straw, rice husk and paper sludge to wood composites
to replace wood particles for manufacturing green pallets. Results showed that increasing the
contents of rice straw and rice husk dramatically decreased the mechanical strength of the composites.
This is because thewax and silicate coating of these materials obstructed the strong bonding with UF resin.
When 10 wt.% of wood particle was replaced with 10 wt.% of paper sludge, the wood–paper sludge composites
showed similar mechanical properties to those ofwood particle.Wood particle can be replaced by
10 wt.% of dried paper sludge in accordance with the minimum requirement recommended by standards
in green pallet manufacturing.