Abstract

The recycling of leather processing wastes and agricultural by-products is the most realistic alternative to address the causes of environmental pollution in conjunction with the aspect of resource recycling. Research has been actively conducted on the use of leather processing wastes for architectural interior materials, flooring materials, and regenerated leather. In the case of regenerated leather, it is attracting attention because its properties are different from those of natural leather and synthetic leather. Conversely, recycling research using waste mushroom media is still in the basic stage and remains at the level of simple recycling.

In this study, we prepared regenerated leather samples using the following four raw materials in different mixing ratios and analyzed their properties: collagen fibre recovered from shaving scraps, kenaf fibre, rice straw fibre, and waste mushroom medium. The results of the physical property analysis show that the regenerated leather samples prepared with collagen fibre tend to have better tensile and tear strengths than those prepared with kenaf or rice straw fibre. Regarding the specific gravity of the material, the samples prepared with kenaf and rice straw fibres, which have porous structures, yielded poor results compared with the sample prepared with collagen fibre. In terms of softness, the sample prepared with animal-derived collagen fibre is superior compared with the samples prepared with plant-based kenaf and rice straw fibres. In conclusion, the regenerated leather samples prepared by mixing waste mushroom medium with collagen fibre exhibit superior properties compared with those of the samples prepared with kenaf or rice straw fibre.