A local biotechnology company in Greater Taichung on Monday said it has developed paper cups that are resistant to high temperatures, acid and alkaline solutions.
Taiwan uses about 200 million paper cups a month and the safety of food containers has raised concern after it was reported that a major Greater Taichung supplier of paper food containers had been found using a toxic solvent to wipe excess ink off its food containers.
Chang Ching-wen (張靜文), the owner of a paper cup manufacturing company, has conducted research and development on high temperature, acid and alkaline-resistant paper cups.
Since traditional paper cups provide no resistance to high temperatures, acid or alkaline, many people inadvertently consume plasticizer released from the cups when the liquid they contain is too hot, Chang said.
Chang’s company began paper cup production in 1992, when paper cups were a relatively eco-friendly product compared with plastics and polystyrene.
Despite this, the industry was not optimistic about the market.
Chang’s company developed two-tier paper cups, which made the company the largest producer of the product in Southeast Asia.
With increasing awareness of environmental protection, Chang found that the problem of plasticizers being released by paper cups containing hot beverages was difficult to solve, while the recycling value of single-use paper cups was low and disposal of such cups could cause soil and air pollution.
Chang said he has invested more than NT$200 million (US$6.81 million) in the development of a new type of paper pulp that produces paper cups resistant to temperatures as high as 130oC and that do not release plasticizers.
The cups can be placed in a microwave and are also acid and alkaline-resistant. They are 40 percent lighter than ordinary paper cups and their decomposition rate can exceed 97 percent.
Chang said the cup has obtained patents from up to 100 countries and received SGS and US Food and Drug Administration certifications.
Taiwanese were praised for their composure after a video filmed by Taiwanese tourists capturing the moment a magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck Japan’s Aomori Prefecture went viral on social media. The video shows a hotel room shaking violently amid Monday’s quake, with objects falling to the ground. Two Taiwanese began filming with their mobile phones, while two others held the sides of a TV to prevent it from falling. When the shaking stopped, the pair calmly took down the TV and laid it flat on a tatami mat, the video shows. The video also captured the group talking about the safety of their companions bathing
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
A classified Pentagon-produced, multiyear assessment — the Overmatch brief — highlighted unreported Chinese capabilities to destroy US military assets and identified US supply chain choke points, painting a disturbing picture of waning US military might, a New York Times editorial published on Monday said. US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s comments in November last year that “we lose every time” in Pentagon-conducted war games pitting the US against China further highlighted the uncertainty about the US’ capability to intervene in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. “It shows the Pentagon’s overreliance on expensive, vulnerable weapons as adversaries field cheap, technologically
RSS