Natural fibers have been used from the beginning of civilization in a variety of simple applications such as ropes, baskets, clothes, roofing, etc. Today, the advantage of a natural fiber as a renewable and an environmentally correct material has brought an especial attention to the possibility of more advanced uses. Among these, reinforcement phase for polymeric composites has gained a strong position as a competitor to common plastics and wooden products. In this work the main advantages and disadvantages of using natural fiber wastes as reinforcement in polymer matrix composites are presented and discussed. The common characteristics of these fiber wastes are analyzed and the feasibility of examples of each of the main fiber waste types is evaluated, both with respect to their annual production as well as to their mechanical properties. The challenges to be overcome in order to guarantee the common use of natural fiber wastes in composites are presented and discussed.
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