For a long time, there are a wide variety of disposable lunch boxes on the market. However, what are the types of these lunch boxes and what materials are they made of? How do you know? According to the degradability, disposable tableware can be divided into degradable disposable tableware and non-degradable disposable tableware.
Degradable disposable tableware
Including biodegradable and degradable plastics.
Among them, the biodegradable category includes plant fiber molded disposable tableware, starch-based plastic disposable tableware, etc. This kind of lunch box is safe *, easy to be biodegradable, and can be used as biological feed after recycling.
Degradable plastics include foamed plastic tableware and non-foamed plastic tableware, such as polypropylene, high-impact polystyrene, biaxial tensile polystyrene, inorganic mineral-filled polypropylene composite products, etc. This kind of lunch box has slightly better performance and is easy to recycle. The degradation products can be separated by microorganisms.
Non-degradable disposable tableware
Including foam plastic tableware, etc. This kind of lunch box has poor performance and is difficult to degrade.
Because of its high cost performance, the production and use of disposable foam plastic tableware has always been "prohibited by name but not by reality"; However, due to the prohibition for more than ten years and the restrictions of policies and regulations, its production level has stagnated and its R&D and innovation have been hindered. The production and processing of disposable foam plastic tableware in China is still in a relatively simple processing form.
According to industry professionals, the production technology level of disposable foam plastic tableware produced in China is about 15 to 20 years behind that of Japan and Europe. Therefore, after the lifting of the ban, the relevant industry associations must pay attention to promoting the research and development of innovative technologies and the introduction of new production processes, in order to improve the production level of disposable foam plastic tableware in China after the lifting of the ban, improve product quality and guarantee.
Current situation of foaming tableware in Europe, America and Japan
At present, developed countries have developed a large number of new technologies and new products with high temperature resistance in the field of foamed plastic tableware, and such tableware is usually used for lunch and fresh trays. In addition, it is also used as plates, cake boxes and instant noodles bowls in banquets and parties.
Europe and America
Disposable foam tableware is mainly used for food packaging of hamburgers, fast food, dance and picnic activities. In addition, disposable foam tableware is also used as a fresh tray. Expanded polystyrene tray is a material that can resist freezing and heat preservation, and can absorb the blood and water of meat. The fresh-keeping period of meat packed with functional fresh trays can be extended.  
Japan
The instant noodle bowl is almost entirely made of polystyrene. They even developed products that can withstand 125 ℃ high temperature, which can be used as the packaging of hot food and fried food. In Japan, disposable foaming tableware is the main container for lunch boxes for large activities such as office workers and exhibitions.
Hong Kong and other places in China
Polystyrene foam plastic bowls are also commonly used as instant noodles bowls. This is mainly because when using boiling water to brew instant noodles, its container should have good thermal insulation and should not be hot for convenience. Moreover, the shelf life of the foamed flour bowl is longer than that of the paper bowl.