Funding Innovation: Waxed Cardboard Fire Logs

Waxed corrugated cardboard is used for transporting frozen food, fruit, vegetables and meat products, as the coating prevents cardboard from softening. Unfortunately, it also repels water, which is essential for aerobic decomposition. As a result, some municipalities do not include waxed cardboard in their organics stream, and instead landfill the waste.

For 40 years, LakeCity Works in Dartmouth has supported people with mental illness to build their strengths, take on responsibilities and access work experience, education and employment.

LakeCity started experimenting with new products that could incorporate wax cardboard and divert it from landfill. The result was an early prototype fire log that includes existing wax woodchip mixture, wax cardboard and sawdust.

Divert NS provided $35,000 to LakeCity to research and develop safe manufacturing procedures and production methods to create a value-added fire log that incorporates waxed cardboard and waste wood.