Eco-product development from rice stubble for community economy

Abstract

In this research, it was investigated in detail about the physical and specific characteristics of rice stubble to develop eco-product for the community economy. The amounts of heavy metals and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in rice stubble, spread thinly by variety of wood finishes and paints, were examined for selection of the most appropriate materials which reduced the environmental impacts. Finishes were used in this study such as lacquer, vanish, wood preservative, polyurethane, shellac, aerosol paint, oil color, natural dye, and synthetic dye. This research was divided into two parts; the first part of this study consisted of analysis of seven heavy metals such as lead, cadmium, chromium, cobalt, tin, arsenic, and mercury (product criteria of green label, Green Label Thailand and Eco-labeling 2009/894/EC), the second part consisted of analysis of volatile organic compounds, and Environmental Impact Assessment for analyzing product life cycle through choices about materials, and energy. Finally, the respondents’ perception of the factors affecting product design were examined by measuring the satisfaction toward the designed products. The subjects were classified into three categories such as producer group, designer group, and consumer group. The experimental results showed that the standardized finishes of rice stubble were shellac, lacquer, wood preservative, vanish, and polyurethane, respectively. Basket Weaving Techniques were the appropriate ones for the processing of the finished rice stubble because of less waste, reducing urea formaldehyde usage, man-based method, less energy intensive, less transportation energy and less adjusted procedure. The examples of designed products were desk lamp, tablemat and hand bag. Producer group and designer group had a different opinion about the use of low-impact materials and the avoidance of hazardous substances. Producer group had significant differences of opinion with designer group, and consumer group about the appropriate proportion of product design and the color, making a product aesthetic. Among three groups of respondents, there were not different opinions about the product aesthetic, the ergonomically designed products, the environmentally conscious products, the friendly processed products, the natural processed products, and the easily end-of-life treatments.