Material selection of takeaway disposable tableware

What are the materials of takeaway lunch boxes?

There are currently four main types of take-out lunch boxes on the market, namely PS material packaging boxes, PP material packaging boxes, paper packaging boxes and biodegradable lunch boxes. PS and PP lunch boxes are recyclables, but it is difficult to separate the lunchboxes and food residues, causing most of these plastic lunch boxes to be incinerated as garbage.

The awareness of the adverse effects of plastic tableware and the benefits of environmentally friendly tableware continues to increase, and the use of non-toxic and oil-free products is increasingly widespread. From the perspective of degradation effects, paper and biodegradable plastic lunch boxes are the most environmentally friendly, but the shortcomings of paper lunch boxes are also obvious. One is that the price is high, the other is that soup cannot be packaged, and the third is that paper lunch boxes can be recycled. After 2-3 times, it is permanently unusable. At present, the penetration rate of biodegradable plastic tableware in the food delivery industry is gradually increasing. Starting from the four links of source reduction, packaging upgrade, recycling and classification, and recycling explore the scientific closed loop of take-out waste from generation to disposal and promote the green development of the industry.

It is estimated takeaway consumption is about 105g plastic per serving. Plastic packaging materials for takeaways include plastic bags, plastic bowls, plastic soup spoons, and plastic soup cups. Petroleum-based polymer plastics such as polystyrene, polypropylene, and polyethylene are basically used. The weight of a single plastic bowl and a plastic lunch box is basically 40g-60g. The environmental protection organization "Natural University" found that each take-out consumes an average of 3.27 lunch boxes. We conservatively sell 2.5 lunch boxes per order (40g/box) +1 Calculated as a plastic bag (5g), 105 g of waste plastic will be generated for each order.

Due to the pandemic, more people will pay attention to their health, deeply realize that it is not easy for people to live, and people's eating style will be greatly affected. Diners will have higher and higher requirements for the restaurant environment, and clean and hygienic restaurants will become With their first choice, you no longer have novel and unique things to win customers. Therefore, people nowadays cherish health more and pay more attention to food safety.

Disposable degradable tableware is convenient and hygienic and solves the hidden safety hazards from the source. It is an indispensable magic weapon for the catering industry to fight the market. The disposable tableware produced is non-toxic, tasteless, environmentally friendly, easy to carry, non-toxic, harmless, non-deformable and non-permeable. All products are environmentally-friendly, hygienic, and safety-oriented, featuring high quality, beauty, and novelty. 

With the popularity of takeout and express delivery, the plastic packaging and disposable waste caused are even more significant.

Market Analysis and Insights: Global Biodegradable Tableware Market

By 2027, the valuation of the biodegradable tableware market will reach 57.22 million US dollars, and in the forecast period from 2020 to 2027, this growth rate will reach 6.0%. The biodegradable tableware market report analyzes this growth, which is currently aimed at reducing plastic waste and greenhouse gas emissions (such as methane emissions). Biodegradable tableware are compostable and biodegradable products designed to reduce methane emissions because they are made from renewable resources such as sugar cane, bamboo, and paper. Tableware includes bowls, plates and cups, they have many advantages, suitable for hot and cold drinks, high strength and high performance.

What kind of disposable takeaway tableware do we need?

Paper tableware

The raw materials of paper tableware are easily degradable and recyclable. The main raw materials are reeds, wheatgrass and other herbs or wood pulp through die-cutting bonding or die-cutting pressing, shaping and other processes through a stamping process similar to sheet processing.

But the disadvantages are also obvious. One is that the production of pulp will seriously pollute the environment, even more than plastic. The second is that the quality of straw pulp products is poor, it is difficult to meet the standards and the price is too high. If the wood pulp is used, it will inevitably consume a lot of wood. Third, in order to prevent oil or water seepage of cardboard coated tableware, it is necessary to coat the surface of the tableware or apply chemical additives.

Plant starch disposable tableware

It uses wheat, corn, potato, sweet potato, cassava and other plant starches as the main raw materials, and consists of four parts: a dense layer, an inner waterproof layer, a rubber mesh layer and an outer waterproof layer. The starch content is high, the degradation rate is relatively fast, and the degradation rate can reach more than 95%, but the raw material cost is relatively high.

Plant fiber type disposable tableware

Plant fibers extracted from rice straw, rice husks, bagasse, etc. are used as raw materials.It can be completely degraded into harmless and non-toxic natural substances in a short period of time. It is derived from nature and returns to nature. It can effectively replace foamed plastics and other products on the market. The product has the characteristics of resource saving and circular economy.

PLA and PBAT disposable plastic tableware

Best disposable takeaway container and lunch box option-PLA and PBAT disposable plastic tableware. At present, the mainstream degradable plastic products are PLA and PBAT, which have good performance and great potential for industry development. PLA has good transparency and good biocompatibility. It is used to produce daily plastic products, films, and medical product packaging. PBAT has good thermal stability and mechanical properties and is used in the production of disposable daily necessities, packaging materials, agricultural films, and other fields.

It can be seen from the performance comparison of various materials that the performance of starch and paper is actually not high, but the market share is higher. The most important reason is that the price is lower. The supply of better-performing food contact-grade PLA raw materials is very tight and the price is higher. It is difficult for catering companies to find so many degradable disposable plastic tableware products that meet food safety requirements. Therefore, paper-based disposable tableware is still the mainstream.

What are the requirements and standards for disposable biodegradable materials?

• Appearance evaluation.

• Structural evaluation.

• Performance testing items: volume deviation, load-bearing performance, drop performance, cover folding performance, heat resistance (hot water, heat oil), water leakage performance, water content.

• Content of heavy metals and specific elements: arsenic, cadmium, cobalt, chromium, copper, iron, mercury, nickel, molybdenum, lead, selenium, zinc, etc.

• The volatile solids content (organic content) should be equal to or greater than 51%.

• Degradation performance detection.

• Compostable degradation performance: biological decomposition rate, disintegration rate, eco-toxicity.

• As a substitute for ordinary plastic tableware, the most important thing about disposable degradable tableware is the determination of degradation performance.