Hot Drink Cups

The basic hot beverage cup, probably most familiar in the form of a hot coffee cup, is the form of a paper cup which most people are familiar with. The cup is produced from paper or board, which itself is typically produced from sustainable forest resources, and a polyethylene sheet laminated together to form a single sheet. This sheet mateials is then formed into a paper cup cylinder and the bottom sealed with a disc to produce the typical paper cup. This type of cup can be produced in a wide range of sizes from 'espresso cups' through to a tub shaped food containers.

The paper used in the cup is typically 95% (by weight) of the cup and has been produced from valuable 'bleached kraft fibers' which are extremely strong and desirable fibres. These fibres can be utilised again and again to make other paper products (such as tissue and copier paper). Because of the very strict laws defining what materials can and cannot be used in the manufacture of products which are used in a food contact situation, no post-consumer recovered paper should be used in the production of paper cups in Europe; although some recycling of industrial recovered paper could be allowed.

In most cases the paper provides the structural integrity and ensures that the cup retains the correct shape even when full of hot coffee.

The polyethylene laminate (typically 5% by weight) makes the cup waterproof and prevents the contents being absorbed into the paper layer. By heating the polyethylene during the manufacturing process, the cup manufacturer 'seals' the cup locking it into the desired shape and preventing the contents seeping out through the joints. Many people still believe that wax is used to both waterproof and seal the cups, but this practice is no longer needed with modern cup manufacturing techniques.