Many Paper Cup Printing Standards in Huai'an, Jiangsu Fail to Match New Rules

[ppzhan abstract]

The reporter regretfully found that the three common supermarket paper cups he had purchased himself, named Miaojie, Keaike and A, were printed all over with checks or patterns, in violation of the new regulation, which stipulates that "no printing shall be done within 15 mm from the rim to the cup body and within 10 mm from the bottom to the cup body." The official paper cups the reporter obtained from a certain organization comply with this rule: apart from the printed characters of that organization in the middle, no printing marks appear within the ranges specified by the new regulation.

The reporter learned recently that a national standard for single-use paper cups is expected to be officially implemented on June 1 this year. The new regulation fundamentally imposes higher requirements than the previously implemented industry standards in terms of raw materials, additives, products, packaging and printing for single-use paper cups. Specifically, it clearly stipulates that fluorescent whitening agents shall not be used for whitening, recycled materials shall not be used as production raw materials, and benzene-based solvent inks shall not be used for printing. Yesterday, the reporter purchased from a supermarket some single-use paper cups that people commonly choose in daily life and carried out experimental tests against some of the new rules.

Printing standards for paper cups on sale

mostly inconsistent with the new rules

The new regulation stipulates that "no printing shall be done within 15 mm from the rim to the cup body and within 10 mm from the bottom to the cup body." In comparing and studying paper cups, the reporter found that banning printing in these two places within these two distances is well founded: the 15 mm at the rim is exactly where a person's mouth touches when drinking, while the 10 mm from the bottom to the cup body takes into account the packaging characteristics of paper cups — single-use paper cups are sold stacked one inside another, so the bottom easily rubs against the inner side of another cup; printing at the bottom is therefore also avoided to prevent printing materials from harming people's health.

The reporter regretfully found that the three common supermarket paper cups he had purchased himself, named Miaojie, Keaike and A, were all printed all over with checks or patterns, violating the above-mentioned new rule prohibiting printing "within 15 mm from the rim to the cup body and within 10 mm from the bottom to the cup body." The reporter also studied the material descriptions of these three paper cups and found that all three products, without exception, only indicated the paper material and did not state the safety of the printing materials.

The official paper cups the reporter obtained from a certain organization, however, comply with this rule: apart from the printed characters of that organization in the middle, no printing marks appear within the ranges specified by the new regulation.

Cup water smells of "paper and ink"

After their packaging was opened, none of the three supermarket paper cups had an obviously pungent odor, but a closer sniff still revealed a faint smell of printed paper. Held up to a light source, the paper of all three cups looked fairly uniform, with no obvious impurities, and appeared off-white. The official paper cups from a certain organization, however, had a rather soft body and strikingly white paper.

After boiling water at 100 degrees Celsius was poured in, the three supermarket paper cups remained firm, but the official paper cups from a certain organization immediately went limp, as if they would dissolve in the boiling water. "We usually use two cups stacked together," said a staff member of that organization.

Some experts have pointed out that water steeped in a paper cup should not be drunk. The reporter's test found that after boiling water was poured in, all these paper cups gave off a smell of paper and ink "baked" out by the hot water. Five minutes later, the reporter poured away the water in the cups and refilled them with plain boiled water; this time, what wafted from the cups was the fresh smell of plain boiled water.

— This article is reposted from China Packaging Network (pack.cn). Original link: http://news.pack.cn/show-362102.html