Novel Technology for Sustainable Pineapple Leaf Fibers Productions

AbstractRecently, there is a critical issue on crop waste management from agricultural sectors in Malaysia. Due to the rapid development in agricultural sectors, there are approximately 1.2 million tons of agricultural wastes being disposed annually in Malaysia. This kind of waste is usually eliminated by burned or decomposed and lead to the arising of some environmental issues. Regarding to environmental and sustainability awareness, concerns on the long term effect of burning crop waste have been expressed including pineapple leaves burning. Responding to this emerging issue, there are emphases on transformation of crop waste to wealth in order to create a sustainable agriculture industry. In pineapple cultivation, the pineapple leaves can be further processed to produce value-added products. Pineapple waste is no longer something that is unwanted. Recently, it is regarded as resources for economy development. Turning pineapple leaves into wealth not only makes good environmental sense, but also turns “trash” into “cash”. In Malaysia, several initiatives have been done in order to extract fiber from pineapple leaves and convert into commercial products. However, the process involved in pineapple leaves fiber productions is still lag behind technologies development in this era. The proposed technology involved in sustainable pineapple leaf fibers (PALF) productions practicing the process that will reduce the environment pollution, minimize the waste, conserved energy and natural resources. This sustainable manufacturing will maximize the productions of pineapple leaf fibers and develop green environment as well as boost the economy growth