Do you know the disadvantages of disposable cups?

People use disposable products for convenience. But at present, with the improvement of people's environmental awareness, consumption concepts will also make appropriate adjustments.

 

 

Disposable paper cups and disposable plastic cups, which are more environmentally friendly?

 

When answering this question, we will take it for granted that plastic is a petroleum-based product, which consumes oil and energy during its production and manufacturing process, and is difficult to degrade after use，which is one of the white-pollution. The main component of paper cups is cellulose, which is a natural renewable resource. Although the production process may also produce pollution, it does not consume petroleum products, energy consumption should be relatively low. Most importantly, cellulose is easy to degrade and will not produce white pollution. Therefore, most people will think that disposable paper cups are more environmentally friendly than disposable plastic cups. However, the simpler the problem is, the more interesting the story is. The fact is not as simple as we imagined.

 

Hawking, a Canadian scientist, made a serious analysis on this issue and compared the disposable hot drink container cup. He carried out a complete set of environmental value assessment for disposable cups and disposable foam cups from raw materials to processing procedures, materials and recycling options for final use and processing. The final conclusion is surprising. The pollution of paper cup in the production process is several times higher than that of the plastic cup!

 

In the face of such a situation, can we choose a disposable plastic cup? Compared with disposable water cups, we can actually prefer the stainless-steel hydro flask or double wall stainless-steel bottle, which can be used repeatedly and protect the environment.

 

 

Biotoxicity

At present, there are three kinds of disposable paper cups on the market. The first one is made of white cardboard. It is mainly used to hold dry things, not water and oil. The second is a waxed paper cup, which is thick and waterproof because it has been 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 is the paper plastic cup which is widely used now. The outside is a layer of paper, and the inside is a layer of coated paper. If the material used is not good or the processing technology is not up to standard, harmful substances will be produced. In addition, some manufacturers add a lot of fluorescent whitening agents to make the cup look whiter, which is also a potential carcinogen.

 

Disposable plastic cups often add some plasticizers which contain a lot of harmful substances. When they are used to hold hot water, harmful substances are diluted into the water. In addition, there are many pores in the internal microporous structure of the plastic cup body, which easily contain dirt and scale. Therefore, improper cleaning will lead to the growth of bacteria.

 

Stainless-steel drinking cups and stainless-steel coffee tumblers adopt food grade stainless-steel. Even in the face of high temperatures, it will not produce harmful substances.

 

 

Raw material

In terms of raw materials, the production of disposable paper cups is made from paper pulp, while the hot drink foam cups are hydrocarbons extracted from petroleum. Although wood is a renewable resource, in the process of pulp production, it is necessary to build relevant roads and cut down a large number of trees. These factors will have adverse effects on the natural environment. Especially if these logging areas occupy most of the area of a watershed, it will lead to an increase in the maximum stream flow and a decrease in the minimum flow in the watershed, which will lead to the instability of the local environment and seriously affect the production and livelihood of local people.

 

In the process of oil exploration and exploitation, it will also have an impact on the local environment and ecosystem. However, due to the limited area of an oil well, its impact on the surface is also smaller than the forest coverage area with the same amount of wood. Therefore, from the negative impact of raw materials on the environment, the same number of disposable paper cups has a wider impact than disposable plastic cups.

 

Stainless-steel water bottles are known as eco-friendly water bottles because their raw materials do not pollute the environment and cause great damage to the bad environment.

 

 

Degradation and recovery

Although disposable paper cups are made of cellulose, they are renewable. However, the paper cup with water-insoluble thermoplastic resin or solvent-based adhesive can only be regarded as non-recyclable in technology. Because the adhesive resin cannot be removed during the re pulping process, and if the paper cup is coated with plastic film or paraffin wax to improve its performance, it will also hinder the recovery of fibers. Moreover, the degradation of cellulose requires a certain temperature and humidity, which means that the waste paper cups in the landfill may not be completely biodegradable, especially in arid areas. These problems do not exist in the simulated stainless-steel water bottle and personalised stainless steel water bottle. They can be reused for a long time to protect the environment.

 

 

With the development of science and technology, it is possible that disposable biological plastic cups will gradually replace disposable paper cups and disposable plastic cups. From the perspective of people's health and sustainable development of resources, we should try our best to reduce the use of disposable water cups, on the contrary, we should use wide mouth stainless-steel water bottles or large permanent steel water bottles instead.