Paper Cup
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A paper cup is a
disposable cup A disposable cup is a type of tableware and disposable food packaging. Disposable cup types include paper cups, plastic cups and foam cups. Expanded polystyrene is used to manufacture foam cups, and polypropylene is used to manufacture plasti ...
made out of paper and often lined or
coated A coating is a covering that is applied to the surface of an object, usually referred to as the substrate. The purpose of applying the coating may be decorative, functional, or both. Coatings may be applied as liquids, gases or solids e.g. Powder ...
with
plastic Plastics are a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic materials that use polymers as a main ingredient. Their plasticity makes it possible for plastics to be moulded, extruded or pressed into solid objects of various shapes. This adaptab ...
or
wax Waxes are a diverse class of organic compounds that are lipophilic, malleable solids near ambient temperatures. They include higher alkanes and lipids, typically with melting points above about 40 °C (104 °F), melting to giv ...
to prevent liquid from leaking out or soaking through the paper. It may be made of
recycled paper The recycling of paper is the process by which waste paper is turned into new paper products. It has a number of important benefits: It saves waste paper from occupying homes of people and producing methane as it breaks down. Because paper fi ...
and is widely used around the world.


History

Paper cups have been documented in
imperial China The earliest known written records of the history of China date from as early as 1250 BC, from the Shang dynasty (c. 1600–1046 BC), during the reign of king Wu Ding. Ancient historical texts such as the '' Book of Documents'' (early chapte ...
, where paper was invented by 2nd century BC. Paper cups were known as ''chih pei'' and were used for the serving of tea. They were constructed in different sizes and colors, and were adorned with decorative designs. Textual evidence of paper cups appears in a description of the possessions of the Yu family, from the city of
Hangzhou Hangzhou ( or , ; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), also romanized as Hangchow, is the capital and most populous city of Zhejiang, China. It is located in the northwestern part of the province, sitting at the head of Hangzhou Bay, whi ...
. The modern paper cup was developed in the 20th century. In the early 20th century, it was common to have shared glasses or dippers at water sources such as school faucets or water barrels in trains. This shared use caused public health concerns. One notable investigation into their use was the study by Alvin Davison, biology professor at
Lafayette College Lafayette College is a private liberal arts college in Easton, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1826 by James Madison Porter and other citizens in Easton, the college first held classes in 1832. The founders voted to name the college after General Laf ...
, published with the sensational title "Death in School Drinking Cups" in ''Technical World Magazine'' in August 1908, based on research carried out in
Easton, Pennsylvania Easton is a city in, and the county seat of, Northampton County, Pennsylvania, United States. The city's population was 28,127 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Easton is located at the confluence of the Lehigh River, a river tha ...
's public schools. The article was reprinted and distributed by the Massachusetts State Board of Health in November 1909. Based on these concerns, and as paper goods (especially after the 1908 invention of the Dixie Cup) became cheaply and cleanly available, local bans were passed on the shared-use cup. One of the first railway companies to use disposable paper cups was the
Lackawanna Railroad The Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad (also known as the DL&W or Lackawanna Railroad) was a U.S. Class 1 railroad that connected Buffalo, New York, and Hoboken, New Jersey (and by ferry with New York City), a distance of . Incorporated in ...
, which began using them in 1909. By 1917, the public glass had disappeared from railway carriages, replaced by paper cups even in jurisdictions where public glasses had yet to be banned. Paper cups are also employed in hospitals for health reasons. In 1942 the Massachusetts State College found in one study that the cost of using washable glasses, re-used after being sanitized, was 1.6 times the cost of using single-service paper cups. These studies, as well as the reduction in the risk of cross-infection, encouraged the use of paper cups in hospitals.


Dixie cups

Dixie Cup is the
brand name A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create an ...
for a line of disposable paper cups that were first developed in the United States in 1907 by Lawrence Luellen, a lawyer in
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
,
Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...
, who was concerned about germs being spread by people sharing glasses or dippers at public supplies of drinking water. Luellen developed an ice-cooled water-
vending machine A vending machine is an automated machine that provides items such as snacks, beverages, cigarettes, and lottery tickets to consumers after cash, a credit card, or other forms of payment are inserted into the machine or otherwise made. The fir ...
with disposable cups, and with another Bostonian, Hugh Moore, embarked on an
advertising campaign An advertising campaign is a series of advertisement messages that share a single idea and theme which make up an integrated marketing communication (IMC). An IMC is a platform in which a group of people can group their ideas, beliefs, and conc ...
to educate the public and to market his machine, principally to railroad companies. Professor Davison's study was instrumental in abolishing the public glass and opening the door for the paper cup. Soon, the devices, which would dispense cool water for one cent, became standard equipment on trains. After Lawrence Luellen invented his paper cup and corresponding water fountain, he started the American Water Supply Company of New England in 1908 located in Boston. The company began producing the cup as well as the Water Vendor. In order to expand their territory, Luellen organized the American Water Supply Company of New York as well as the American Water Supply Company of New Jersey with the help of Hugh Moore. Instead of producing the cups and fountains, these subsidiary companies were charged with the sale and distribution of Luellen's products. In 1909 Luellen and Moore started the Public Cup Vendor Company in New York in order to lease their vendor machines. Their primary customers were railroads so that the devices could be implemented on passenger train cars. After many states started to ban the common drinking cup in public places, steady orders for Luellen's machine began to roll in. The success of Luellen and Moore's territorial companies inspired them to incorporate into the Individual Drinking Cup Company of New York in 1910. The Dixie Cup was first called "Health Kup", but from 1919 it was named after a line of dolls made by Alfred Schindler's Dixie Doll Company in New York. Success led the company, which had existed under a variety of names, to call itself the Dixie Cup Corporation and move to a factory in
Wilson, Pennsylvania Wilson is a borough in Northampton County, Pennsylvania. The population was 8,259 at the 2020 census. Wilson is located adjacent to the city of Easton and is part of the Lehigh Valley metropolitan area, which had a population of 861,899 and was ...
. Atop the factory was a large water tank in the shape of a cup. In 1957, Dixie merged with the
American Can Company The American Can Company was a manufacturer of tin cans. It was a member of the Tin Can Trust, that controlled a "large percentage of business in the United States in tin cans, containers, and packages of tin." American Can Company ranked 97th amon ...
. The
James River Corporation James River Corporation was an American pulp and paper company based in Richmond, Virginia, once the largest paper manufacturer in the world. History The company was founded in 1969 as the James River Paper Company by Brenton Halsey and Robert Wi ...
purchased American Can's paper business in 1982. The assets of James River are now part of
Georgia-Pacific Georgia-Pacific LLC is an American pulp and paper company based in Atlanta, Georgia, and is one of the world's largest manufacturers and distributors of tissue, pulp, paper, toilet and paper towel dispensers, packaging, building products and r ...
, a subsidiary of
Koch Industries Koch Industries, Inc. ( ) is an American privately held multinational conglomerate corporation based in Wichita, Kansas and is the second-largest privately held company in the United States, after Cargill. Its subsidiaries are involved in th ...
, the second largest privately owned company in the United States. In 1983, production moved to a modern factory in Forks, Pennsylvania. The original factory in Wilson has sat vacant ever since. The closing of the factory also prompted
Conrail Conrail , formally the Consolidated Rail Corporation, was the primary Class I railroad in the Northeastern United States between 1976 and 1999. The trade name Conrail is a portmanteau based on the company's legal name. It continues to do busin ...
to abandon the Easton & Northern railroad branch, of which Dixie Cups was the last major customer. In 1969, the Dixie Cup logo was created by
Saul Bass Saul Bass (; May 8, 1920 – April 25, 1996) was an American graphic designer and Oscar-winning filmmaker, best known for his design of motion-picture title sequences, film posters, and corporate logos. During his 40-year career, Bass wor ...
, a
graphic designer A graphic designer is a professional within the graphic design and graphic arts industry who assembles together images, typography, or motion graphics to create a piece of design. A graphic designer creates the graphics primarily for published, ...
known for his motion picture title sequences. The
coupon collector's problem In probability theory, the coupon collector's problem describes "collect all coupons and win" contests. It asks the following question: If each box of a brand of cereals contains a coupon, and there are ''n'' different types of coupons, what is th ...
is sometimes called the Dixie cup problem.


Early advertisements

The tone of many of the advertisements created by the Dixie Cup Company took the form of embracing modern ideals and marketing towards people who wanted to improve their lives and jump on board a new trend for fear of being left behind. “This is the sanitary age -- the age of dixie cups,” was used for several years with success. A subsequent pivot towards soda fountains was made in both product line and advertising, but the central idea of individual use as more sanitary than reusable glasses persisted. An emphasis on the theme of cups being “touched only by you” was seen as an act to make the cups seem individualized.


Manufacture

The base paper for paper cups is called " cup board", and is made on special multi-ply
paper machine A paper machine (or paper-making machine) is an industrial machine which is used in the pulp and paper industry to create paper in large quantities at high speed. Modern paper-making machines are based on the principles of the Fourdrinier Machin ...
s. It has a barrier coating for waterproofing. The paper needs high stiffness and strong wet sizing. The cup board grade has a special design for the cup manufacturing processes. The mouth roll forming process requires good elongation properties of the board and the plastic coating. A well formed mouth roll provides stiffness and handling properties in the cup. The basis weights of the cup boards are 170–350 g/m2. To meet hygiene requirements, paper cups are generally manufactured from virgin (non-recycled) materials. The one exception to this is when the paper cup features an extra insulating layer for heat retention, which never comes into contact with the beverage, such as a corrugated layer wrapped around a single-wall cup.


Waterproofing

Originally, paper cups for hot drinks were glued together and made waterproof by dropping a small amount of clay in the bottom of the cup, and then spinning at high speed so that clay would travel up the walls of the cup, making the paper water-resistant. However, this resulted in drinks smelling and tasting of cardboard. Cups for cold drinks could not be treated in the same way, as condensation forms on the outside, then soaks into the board, making the cup unstable. To remedy this, cup manufacturers developed the technique of spraying both the inside and outside of the cup with wax. Clay and wax-coated cups disappeared with the invention of
polyethylene Polyethylene or polythene (abbreviated PE; IUPAC name polyethene or poly(methylene)) is the most commonly produced plastic. It is a polymer, primarily used for packaging ( plastic bags, plastic films, geomembranes and containers including bo ...
(PE)-coated cups; this process covers the surface of the board with a very thin layer of PE, waterproofing the board and welding the seams together. In 2017, the Finnish board manufacturer Kotkamills launched a new kind of cup (food service) board which uses no wax or plastic for waterproofing, and thus can be recycled as part of the normal paper and board waste stream, biodegraded, or even
compost Compost is a mixture of ingredients used as plant fertilizer and to improve soil's physical, chemical and biological properties. It is commonly prepared by decomposing plant, food waste, recycling organic materials and manure. The resulting m ...
ed in small quantities. In 2017, the Newport Beach, California, company Smart Planet Technologies, launched "reCUP" for the UK market, a recyclable paper cup using a polyethylene and mineral-blended coating branded EarthCoating, that is engineered to be recycled through traditional paper recycling systems. Paper cups with EarthCoating are sold by Detpak, Huhtamaki, Linstol and Pureco USA. Paper cups and paper bags made from "Pinyapel", paper made from discarded pineapple leaves, were introduced in 2019. The water-resistant food packaging alternative material was developed by a consortium made up of the Department of Trade and Industry Design Center of the Philippines (DCP), Cagayan de Oro Handmade Paper, Nature's Fresh, and Ideatechs Packaging Corporation. The innovation was a Wood Pencil Awardee in the 2019 edition of the annual D&AD Future Impact Awards. Tests by the DCP show that the 55.32 percent mass loss of Pinyapel in four weeks is much higher than the 21.33 percent mass loss in commercial paper bags, giving evidence that the material decomposes faster than other paper products.


Printing on paper cups

Originally paper cups were printed using rubber blocks mounted on cylinders, with a different cylinder for each colour. Registration across different colours was very difficult, but later
flexography Flexography (often abbreviated to flexo) is a form of printing process which utilizes a flexible relief plate. It is essentially a modern version of letterpress, evolved with high speed rotary functionality, which can be used for printing on a ...
plates became available and with the use of mounting systems it became easier to register across the colours, allowing for more complex designs. Printing flexographic has become ideal for long runs and manufacturers generally use this method when producing over a million cups. Machines such as Comexi are used for this, which have been adapted to take the extra large reels that are required by paper cup manufacturers. Ink technology has also changed and where
solvent A solvent (s) (from the Latin '' solvō'', "loosen, untie, solve") is a substance that dissolves a solute, resulting in a solution. A solvent is usually a liquid but can also be a solid, a gas, or a supercritical fluid. Water is a solvent for ...
-based inks were being used, water-based inks are instead being utilised. One of the side effects of solvent-based inks is that hot drink cups in particular can smell of solvent, whereas water-based inks have eliminated this problem. Other methods of printing have been used for short runs such as
offset printing Offset printing is a common printing technique in which the inked image is transferred (or "offset") from a plate to a rubber blanket and then to the printing surface. When used in combination with the lithographic process, which is based on t ...
, which can vary from anything from 10,000 to 100,000 cups. Offset printing inks have also been developed and although in the past these were solvent based, the latest soya-based inks have reduced the danger of cups smelling. The latest development is Direct-printing, which allows printing on very small quantities, typically from 1,000 cups, and is used by companies including Brendos Ltd offering small quantities in short lead times.
Rotogravure Rotogravure (or gravure for short) is a type of intaglio printing process, which involves engraving the image onto an image carrier. In gravure printing, the image is engraved onto a cylinder because, like offset printing and flexography, it ...
can also be used, but this is extremely expensive and is normally only utilised for items requiring extremely high quality printing like ice cream containers.


Environmental impact


Recycling

Most paper cups are designed for a single use and then disposal. Very little
recycled paper The recycling of paper is the process by which waste paper is turned into new paper products. It has a number of important benefits: It saves waste paper from occupying homes of people and producing methane as it breaks down. Because paper fi ...
is used to make paper cups because of contamination concerns and regulations. Since most paper cups are coated with plastic (polyethylene), then both composting and recycling of paper cups is uncommon because of the difficulty in separating the polyethylene in the recycling process of said cups. As of 2016, there are only two facilities in the UK able to properly recycle PE-coated cups; in the absence of such facilities, the cups are taken to landfill or incinerated. A UK-based business group James Cropper have developed the world's first facility for the effective recycling of the estimated 2.5 billion paper coffee cups used and disposed of by British businesses each year, and have become one of 14 international companies to formally join the Paper Recovery and Recycling Group (PCRRG). James Cropper's Reclaimed Fibre Facility was opened by HM The Queen in July 2013, and recovers both the plastic and paper from the cups; ensuring nothing is wasted from the recycling process. Although paper cups are made from renewable resources (wood chips 95% by weight), paper products in a landfill might not decompose, or can release
methane Methane ( , ) is a chemical compound with the chemical formula (one carbon atom bonded to four hydrogen atoms). It is a group-14 hydride, the simplest alkane, and the main constituent of natural gas. The relative abundance of methane on Eart ...
, if decomposed anaerobically. A
Newport Beach, California Newport Beach is a coastal city in South Orange County, California. Newport Beach is known for swimming and sandy beaches. Newport Harbor once supported maritime industries however today, it is used mostly for recreation. Balboa Island, Newport ...
, company
Smart Planet Technologies
has developed a new coating on paper cups and folding cartons called EarthCoating so they are certified universally recyclable in conventional paper recycling systems. Paper cups with EarthCoating have received the highest "AAA" rating for recycling from Der Grune Punkt (The Green Dot), a certifying body for recycling in the EU, for recycling in Class 13 bales along with office paper. Smart Planet Technologies' licensee Detpak, along with paper-shredder Shred-X have set up commercial recycling systems for paper cups with EarthCoating, branded "RecycleMe", used in recycled paper products such as copy paper, gift wrap, and paper bags. Detpak declared the takeaway cup problem solved in Australia. Subsequently, Australia's Department of Defense, along with globally-recognized recycler Veolia, have teamed up to recycle the department's paper cups, as part of their "War on Waste". In 2017, the Finnish board manufacturer Kotkamills launched a new kind of cup (food service) board which uses no wax or plastic for waterproofing, and thus can be recycled as part of the normal paper and board waste stream, biodegraded, or even
compost Compost is a mixture of ingredients used as plant fertilizer and to improve soil's physical, chemical and biological properties. It is commonly prepared by decomposing plant, food waste, recycling organic materials and manure. The resulting m ...
ed in small quantities. The manufacture of paper usually requires inorganic chemicals and creates water
effluent Effluent is wastewater from sewers or industrial outfalls that flows directly into surface waters either untreated or after being treated at a facility. The term has slightly different meanings in certain contexts, and may contain various pollut ...
s. Paper cups may consume more non-renewable resources than cups made of
polystyrene foam Polystyrene (PS) is a synthetic polymer made from monomers of the aromatic hydrocarbon styrene. Polystyrene can be solid or foamed. General-purpose polystyrene is clear, hard, and brittle. It is an inexpensive resin per unit weight. It is a ...
(whose only significant effluent is
pentane Pentane is an organic compound with the formula C5H12—that is, an alkane with five carbon atoms. The term may refer to any of three structural isomers, or to a mixture of them: in the IUPAC nomenclature, however, pentane means exclusively the ' ...
).


Paper vs plastic

A
life cycle inventory Life cycle assessment or LCA (also known as life cycle analysis) is a methodology for assessing environmental impacts associated with all the stages of the life cycle of a commercial product, process, or service. For instance, in the case of ...
of a comparison of paper vs
plastic cup A plastic cup is a cup made out of plastic, commonly used as a container to hold beverages. Some are reusable while others are intended for a single use followed by recycling or disposal. Disposable plastic cups are often used for gatherings w ...
s shows environmental effects of both with no clear winner.
Polyethylene Polyethylene or polythene (abbreviated PE; IUPAC name polyethene or poly(methylene)) is the most commonly produced plastic. It is a polymer, primarily used for packaging ( plastic bags, plastic films, geomembranes and containers including bo ...
(PE) is a petroleum-based coating on paper cups that can slow down the process of biodegrading of the paper it coats.
Polylactic acid Polylactic acid, also known as poly(lactic acid) or polylactide (PLA), is a thermoplastic polyester with backbone formula or , formally obtained by condensation of lactic acid with loss of water (hence its name). It can also be prepared by rin ...
(PLA) is a biodegradable bio-plastic coating used on some paper cups. PLA is a
renewable resource A renewable resource, also known as a flow resource, is a natural resource which will replenish to replace the portion resource depletion, depleted by usage and consumption, either through natural reproduction or other recurring processes in a ...
and is certified compostable in industrial composting facilities, which means that when it biodegrades, it does not leave behind any toxic residues. Although PLA-lined cups are the only paper cups which can be composted fully, they can contaminate the waste stream, reportedly making other recycled plastics unsaleable. Prior to 2012, paper cups can only be recycled at a specialised treatment facility regardless of the lining. A number of cities – including
Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...
,
Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...
— have banned XPS foam cups in take-out and fast food restaurants.


Emissions

A study of one paper coffee cup with sleeve (16 ounce) shows that the CO2 emissions is about per cup with sleeve – including paper from trees, materials, production and shipping.


Habitat-loss trees used

The
habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby ...
from one 16 ounce paper coffee cup with a sleeve is estimated to be 0.09 square meters (0.93 square feet). Over 6.5 million trees were cut down to make 16 billion paper coffee cups used by U.S. in 2006, using of water and resulting in of waste. Overall, US Americans use 58% of all paper cups worldwide, amounting to 130 billion cups.


Lids

Paper cups may have various types of lids. The paper cups that are used as containers for yogurt, for example, generally have two types of lids: heat-seal
foil Foil may refer to: Materials * Foil (metal), a quite thin sheet of metal, usually manufactured with a rolling mill machine * Metal leaf, a very thin sheet of decorative metal * Aluminium foil, a type of wrapping for food * Tin foil, metal foil ...
lids used for small "single serving" containers, and plastic press-on, resealable lids used for large "family size" containers, , where not all of the yogurt may be consumed at any one time and thus the ability to re-close the container is required. Hot drinks sold in paper cups may come with a plastic lid, to keep the drink hot and prevent spillage. These lids have a hole through which the drink can be sipped. The plastic lids can have many features including peel back tabs, raised walls to protect the foam of gourmet hot drinks and embossed text. In 2008,
Starbucks Starbucks Corporation is an American multinational chain of coffeehouses and roastery reserves headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It is the world's largest coffeehouse chain. As of November 2021, the company had 33,833 stores in 80 c ...
introduced shaped plastic "splash sticks" to block the hole, in some of their stores, after customer complaints about hot coffee splashing through it.


References


Further reading

* – the Dixie Cup * – how to make a paper cup out of a square of paper using
origami ) is the Japanese paper art, art of paper folding. In modern usage, the word "origami" is often used as an inclusive term for all folding practices, regardless of their culture of origin. The goal is to transform a flat square sheet of pape ...
* *
A mathematically annotated folding instruction for paper cups


External links

*

{{Paper products Liquid containers Drinkware Paper products Paper recycling American inventions Chinese inventions Disposable products