Drinking tea in disposable paper cups unsafe, says study
New Delhi, November 8
Disposable paper cups are not safe for drinking tea and a person drinking three cups of tea in them will end up ingesting 75,000 tiny microplastic particles, a study by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur, has found.
Sudha Goel, associate professor at IIT-Kharagpur who led the research, says disposable paper cups are a popular choice for consuming beverages.
“Our research has confirmed contamination of the hot liquid served in paper cups due to the degradation of microplastics and other hazardous components from the lining material of the cup. Paper cups are usually lined by a thin layer of hydrophobic film made of mostly plastic (polyethylene) and sometimes co-polymers to hold the liquid in the paper cup. Within 15 minutes, this microplastic layer degrades as a reaction to hot water,” she said.
“According to our study, 25,000 micron-sized (10 µm to 1000 µm) microplastic particles are released into 100 mL of hot liquid (85 – 90 degrees C) residing in the paper cups for 15 minutes. Thus, an average person drinking 3 regular cups of tea or coffee daily, in a paper cup, would be ingesting 75,000 tiny microplastic particles, which are invisible to the human eye,” she said.
