Are paper cups eco friendly?

With the rise of take-out and take-out modes, disposable cups and disposable tableware are used on a large scale in our daily lives, causing serious pollution to the environment.

Disposable paper cup or disposable plastic cup, which is more environmentally friendly?

Plastic is a petroleum-based product, which consumes petroleum and energy in the manufacturing process, and is difficult to degrade after use, causing environmental pollution. The main component of the paper cup is cellulose, which is a natural renewable resource. Although the production process may also cause pollution, it does not consume petroleum products. The energy consumption should be relatively low. The most important thing is that cellulose is easy to degrade. Will not produce environmental pollution that is difficult to decompose.

So are paper cups very environmentally friendly?

At present, the main disposable paper cups on the market are divided into the following three types: the first type is made of white cardboard, which is mainly used to hold dry things and cannot be used to hold water and oil; the second type is waxed paper cups. This paper cup is thicker and waterproof because it is soaked in wax, but if the temperature of the water in the cup exceeds 40°C, the wax will melt, and the wax contains carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons; the third type is now The commonly used paper-plastic cup has a layer of paper on the outside and a layer of coated paper on the inside. If the material used is not good or the processing technology is not good enough, harmful substances will be produced. In addition, some manufacturers add a lot of fluorescent whitening agent to make the cup look whiter, which is also a potential carcinogen. So not all paper cups are environmentally friendly.

So, can we refuse to use disposable tableware?

Obviously, it is unreasonable not to use disposable paper cups at all. You cannot bring a cup everywhere, and you need to clean it frequently.

Take a well-known international coffee chain company as an example. It uses 4 billion paper cups every year and requires 1.6 million trees to make pulp. According to the United Nations Environment Programme and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the greenhouse gases emitted by the manufacture of these disposable paper cups are equivalent to the emissions of 30,000 cars for a whole year.

A small paper cup has to pay such a large environmental price behind it. So, in the case of mass production and use of disposable paper cups, can these paper cups be recycled and reused?

Paper cup, in order to make it have this kind of anti-seepage performance, including its strength and performance improvement, we put a layer of plastic film on it, then in this case, it is actually a composite paper product, you treat it as When making paper for recycling, the plastics in it will seriously interfere with the recycling of paper.

There is a layer of film in the paper cup, which is a polymer material called polyethylene, which is also a kind of plastic, which can prevent leakage. Therefore, disposable paper cups cannot be recycled as paper or plastic. Even if it needs to be recycled, the film and paper in the paper cup must be separated to have recycling value, and it must be recycled after being cleaned without water. However, the cost of sorting and storing paper cups and separating paper and plastic is very high. For waste recycling personnel, it is laborious to collect disposable paper cups and takes up space and does not make money, so the recycling enthusiasm is not high.

The reality is that because of the high cost of recycling, common paper cups can only be burned as garbage.

Therefore, whether the paper cup is environmentally friendly depends mainly on the production materials and processes. The subsequent recycling problem cannot be solved temporarily. The best way is to use compostable disposable environmentally friendly paper cups to avoid environmental pollution caused by combustion.

Our company mainly produces environmentally friendly tableware. Everything comes from environmental protection. We take the health and safety of our customers as our own responsibility. We mainly recommend that customers choose the base paper production of sugarcane fiber and reed pulp. The base paper is environmentally friendly, hygienic and safe, and can be in production at a special speed, fast and degradable. From the source to the production to the recycling, it is green and environmentally friendly. The craftsmanship is excellent, and all products are professionally tested, which is absolutely trustworthy.