Paper Cups Are Not Safe For Drinking Tea, According To A Study Conducted By IIT Kharagpur

In a recent study conducted by IIT Kharagpur, it has been found that drinking tea from paper cups is unsafe.

With anti-plastic campaigns, our morning tea is now being served in paper cups. Of course, while this may help in reducing pollution, a recent study by IIT Kharagpur has found that drinking tea from paper cups in unhygienic and unsafe. It may help in our initiative to reduce plastic usage but definitely has got side-effects as it affects our health adversely. 

The study was conducted by Civil Engineering teacher Sudha Goel and environmental engineering and management scholars, Ved Prakash Ranjan and Anuja Joseph. They have found that when hot beverages are served in paper cups, it leads to their contamination which may affect our health in future. These paper cups have microplastic and other components to avoid spillage and hot tea tends to chemically react to them. 

This thin microfibre or polyethene layer, when subjected to hot water or hot tea or coffee, starts reacting within 15 minutes producing unhealthy and toxic components such as palladium, chromium and cadmium, all of which act as toxins for the human body in the long run. It has been calculated that if you drink 3 servings cups of tea in these paper cups, you will consume 75000 tiny microplastic components which are invisible to the naked eye.