China Paper Association issues the “Water-based Coated Paper Cups” standard

On December 29, 2021, the China Paper Association issued the standard “Water-based Coated Paper Cups.” The standard came into effect on January 1, 2022. In recent years, the Chinese government has made efforts to combat plastic pollution. The “Opinions on Further Strengthening the Treatment of Plastic Pollution” (known as the “New Plastic Restriction Order”), issued by the China National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Ecology and Environment in January 2020, indicate a policy to ban the use of non-degradable disposable plastic tableware in restaurants in some cities and tourist destinations by 2022, and to ban their use in food deliveries in prefecture-level cities and above by 2025. Currently, paper cups generally use polyethylene coating technology and are non-degradable, but they will now be subject to the New Plastic Restriction Order. Water-based coatings have been developed for paper cups to solve this problem, and the China Paper Association’s standard has been issued to promote the spread of these products. The following is an outline of the standard, which will be the first such standard in China.

Scope of Application

The standard specifies the classification, product requirements, test methods, inspection rules, labelling, packaging, transportation, and storage of water-based coated paper cups and paper used to manufacture water-based coated paper cups. The standard applies to water-based coated paper cups and paper used to manufacture water-based coated paper cups.

Definitions

Water-based coated paper cup: A cup-shaped paper container in which the paper is coated with a water-based coating and produced through a process such as punching or molding.

Classification

Water-based coated paper cups are classified into hot drink cups, cold drink cups, ice cream cups, yogurt cups, and solid food cups, depending on the application.

Products Requirements

The most noteworthy product requirement is the index related to recyclability. The standard specifies that the overall evaluation score for the recyclability of water-based coated paper cups and paper used to manufacture water-based coated paper cups must be 70 points or more. Methods for measuring recyclability and the evaluation rules are provided in Annex B of the standard.

The original text of the standard can be viewed at the following URL (in Simplified Chinese):
http://www.ttbz.org.cn/StandardManage/Detail/56003/