Do Disposable Coffee Cups Release Hundreds of Millions of Plastic Particles When Exposed to Hot Water?

The Hidden Danger in Your Daily Coffee: Microplastics

Coffee is the beverage that working professionals use for their daily "self-redemption." As everyone knows, brewed coffee is liquid, which means it requires a container. However, how many people can actually remember to bring their own cup to get coffee every day? More often than not, we rely on disposable cups provided by coffee shops. American researchers have discovered that to-go coffee cups and other plastic products release trillions of plastic particles when exposed to hot water for just 20 minutes.

Working professionals' dependency on coffee has made one cup per day standard practice. With five working days per week, that means consuming a significant amount of plastic regularly. Indeed, this is actually happening. As early as 2018, Austrian scholars issued warnings that human bodies have already been contaminated with microplastics. In 2019, researchers from Austria confirmed that every 10 grams of feces contains 20 microplastic particles.

Recently, related studies have shown that these microplastics are not only found in human blood but also in lung tissue. Clearly, plastic has become one of the invisible threats to human health.

Understanding Microplastics vs. Nanoplastics

It's important to note that microplastics have two different definitions based on their particle size. The "microplastics" commonly referred to by people are plastic particles smaller than 5 millimeters and visible to the naked eye. Even smaller are "nanoplastics," which are below one-millionth of a meter (1 micron) and generally cannot be seen even with a standard microscope.

Research Findings on Plastic Leaching

Researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) studied two commonly used plastic products in daily life: the plastic film lining (LDPE) commonly found in disposable hot beverage cups, and the food-grade nylon bag with oil-resistant properties used on baking liners.

Researchers found that when these plastic products are exposed to hot water, they release trillions of microplastics per liter. The concentration of nanoparticles released into hot water from food-grade nylon bags was seven times higher than that from LDPE.

Using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), researchers observed that these plastic particles averaged between 30 to 80 nanometers in size, with only a few particles exceeding 200 nanometers.

The Invisible Threat in Your Hot Drinks

When you're happily walking down the street sipping a hot coffee, tea, or milk beverage, you're thinking about how delicious it tastes. But what you don't realize is that even if the establishment has perfect food hygiene standards, your hot drink still contains billions of invisible microplastic particles. After learning this, doesn't that hot drink in your hand suddenly seem less appealing?

Since nano-sized plastics can enter biological cells and negatively affect their normal functioning, this poses serious health concerns. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates plastics used in food packaging, such as food-grade nylon (often used in tea bags), which should not lose more than 1% of their mass under high-temperature conditions. However, the new technology used in this NIST study revealed mass losses of up to 10%, far exceeding FDA safety standards.

Additionally, the corresponding author of this NIST study pointed out that there is no commonly used test to check the dissolution rate of LDPE in coffee hot beverage cups—only tests for nylon plastics exist.

A Simple Solution: Bring Your Own Cup

So, can we still enjoy a hot coffee without worry? Of course! Simply bring your own reusable cup when you go out, and you've perfectly solved the problem. This approach not only conserves resources but also eliminates concerns about the cleanliness of cups provided by establishments.

Image source: Internet

For professional coffee knowledge exchange and more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat public account: cafe_style)

For more premium coffee beans, please add FrontStreet Coffee on private WeChat, ID: kaixinguoguo0925

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473