New Study Says Paper Cups are as Harmful as Plastic Cups; Scientists Explain Why

Paper cups and other non-plastic containers are believed to be safer for the environment.

However, a new study revealed that this may not be the case as its findings suggested that paper cups are as toxic as plastic cups.

New Study Says Paper Cups Are as Harmful as Plastic Cups

If you love to take out drinks in paper cups, think again. A new study claims these are just as toxic as plastic cups.

The new research, which was published in the Environmental Pollution journal, claims that paper cups also contain harmful chemicals.

These can cause serious damage to the human body, as well as the environment. During their study, involved scientists kept paper and plastic cups in water and wet sediment for a few weeks.

The Wired reported that they did this to check how leaching substances from paper and plastic cups affect midge larvae; insects that are commonly used for toxicity tests.

Based on their results, the contaminated sediment prevented the test subject insects from growing and developing. Tainted water hindered their growth as well.

Scientists were not able to identify the specific chemicals affecting the larvae because they didn't conduct chemical analyses. However, they suspected that the combination of all the chemicals in plastic and paper cups negatively affected the insects.

"There are chemicals leaching out of these materials," said Bethanie Carney Almroth, an environmental science associate professor at the University of Gothenburg.

"This would all be much easier if companies were required to tell us what they use in their products," explained the study's lead author.

Why Paper Cups are Toxic

Paper cups are considered an eco-friendly alternative to plastic cups. However, paper cup manufacturers need to coat these drink containers with a thin layer of plastic.

They are doing this so that paper cups can effectively keep liquid content from seeping into the paper.

The thin plastic layer used can emit toxic substances as the paper cups decompose in soil or water.

Aside from insects, animals, and the environment, paper cups can also negatively affect people's health.

Scientists explained that if manufacturers are not processing plastic layers properly, paper cups might affect drinkers' health. If you want to learn more about the risks of using paper cups, you can click here.