Flexible antenna sensors have gained significant momentum in recent times due to increase in demand for internet of things (IOT) technology. Conventional flexible antenna-based wireless sensors fabricated on plastic substrates are neither biodegradable nor recyclable, use expensive and sophisticated equipment and eco-unfriendly solution processing to fabricate radiating element thus generating e-waste and causing environment contamination. Here we fabricated a 2.4 GHZ paper-based rectangular patch antenna in which aluminium tape is used as radiating patch and ground pane and cellulose filter paper is used as dielectric substrate that separates radiating patch and ground plane. This aluminium on paper antenna exhibits excellent average sensitivity ∼3.23 and ∼3.34 to 1.67% of compressive and tensile bending strain respectively and shows stable performance after hundreds of bending cycles. The performance of antenna sensor was evaluated by subjecting it to microstrains to identify small cracks, folding it with different angles to sense the angle of bending and by interfacing it with hand gloves to detect human motion. Due to versatility in sensing, robustness and flexibility, these antennas can be used as use-and-recycle wireless disposable electromechanical sensors for wearable electronics, human machine interfacing (HMI), crack detection of oils/flammable gas pipelines, and intelligent wireless monitoring of movements. © 2016 Elsevier Ltd