Facilitating waste paper recycling and repurposing via cost modelling of machine failure, labour availability and waste quantity

For a paper manufacturer to remain competitive and sustainable, they must be able to manufacture at a low production cost with minimum resource consumption. One such approach to reduce manufacturing costs and take environmental issues into consideration could be the adoption of recycling and repurposing of waste paper. However, recent recycling research to address both environmental and economic challenges is predominately focused on the mechanical or electrical and electronics sectors. As the paper industry and consumers produce a large amount of waste paper, this lack of research highlights an important knowledge gap in the field of study. This article reviews the extent to which waste paper can be reused through recycling and repurposing. As a result, a cost modelling approach has been developed to predict cost fluctuations under different manufacturing constraints. The overall contributions of this research are: (i) identification of testing scenarios and parameters in waste paper; (ii) methods of recycling and repurposing cost modelling. A case study has been used to validate the method and based on the proposed approach, senior management of paper manufacturers could potentially achieve the best result to prevent unexpected costs and therefore maximise waste paper reuse.