Recycling Cocoa Pod Particleboards for furniture in Ghana

Abstract

Ghana is the second leading producer of cocoa in the world after Cote d’Ivoire. Cocoa production has been the mainstay of the Ghanaian economy and today cocoa continuous to be Ghana’s main agricultural export commodity and an important contributor to Ghana’s foreign exchange earnings and GDP. Greater volumes of waste are however generated annually resulting from these annual high yields and pose serious environmental challenges to the farmers and other inhabitants in the cocoa growing areas. The study investigated the possibilities of using these cocoa pod husk that usually go waste, to produce particleboard as a substitute of solid wood for furniture in Ghana by mixing cocoa pod particles (4,500ml) with polyvinyl acetate (1,500ml), cassava starch (2,500ml) and water (1000ml). The researchers adopted a qualitative research approach for the study to probe the participants’ knowledge about particleboards. A combination of exploratory, descriptive, and experimental methods was employed in the study. Purposive and snowball sampling techniques were used to interview 25 respondents who comprised 15 cocoa farmers and 10 particle board users. Findings revealed that adequate mixtures of the materials in the right proportions can produce low density boards that support the furniture industry.