Fiber Pulp Cup with Integrated Hinged Lid for Single-Stream Recycling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Disposable coffee cups, composed of mixed materials like paper and plastic, are difficult to recycle due to contamination issues, leading to high landfill accumulation and inefficient recycling processes, while plastic lids further complicate waste management.
Innovation Solution
A disposable cup with an integrated hinged lid made from wood or fiber pulp-based materials, allowing for a single recycling process, and optionally featuring a frangible hinge or separate attachable lid, ensuring all components can be recycled together.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If standard disposable cups use mixed paper and plastic materials to prevent leakage, then liquid containment is improved, but recyclability deteriorates due to contamination of recycling streams
Solution Approach 1:
The invention separates the cup into distinct functional layers: an outer paperboard layer for structural integrity and an inner plastic liner for liquid containment. This segmentation allows each material to perform its specific function while enabling separate recycling processing for each layer, resolving the contradiction between leakage prevention and recyclability.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention extracts the plastic liner from the paper cup structure, allowing it to be removed and recycled separately. The plastic liner can be peeled off or mechanically separated at recycling facilities, enabling the paper component to be recycled through standard paper recycling processes without contamination from the plastic material.
2Ease of manufacture
If friction and abrasion methods are used to separate plastic liner from paper at recycling facilities, then material separation is attempted, but complete separation fails leaving plastic contamination
Solution Approach 1:
The invention incorporates a pre-applied release agent or coating on the plastic liner that weakens the bond between the plastic and paper layers before recycling. This preliminary action facilitates easier and more complete separation during recycling processing, preventing the plastic liner from adhering strongly to the paperboard and ensuring thorough material separation.
3Ease of manufacture
If specialized facilities are used to separate and process mixed waste streams, then recycling capability is improved, but economic and environmental costs increase due to transportation and intensive processing
Solution Approach 1:
The invention segments the cup into separable material layers that can be processed through existing, widely-available recycling infrastructure. The paperboard outer layer can be processed through standard paper recycling facilities, while the plastic liner can be collected and processed through plastic recycling streams, eliminating the need for specialized mixed-material processing facilities and reducing transportation and processing costs.
4Adaptability or versatility
If separate plastic lids are used with disposable cups, then functionality is improved, but waste management complexity increases due to additional materials
Solution Approach 1:
The invention merges the lid and cup into a single integrated unit made from the same paperboard material. The lid is formed as an extension of the cup body, creating a unified structure that maintains spill prevention functionality while consisting of a single material type. This integration simplifies waste management as the entire assembly can be processed through a single recycling stream without requiring separation of different materials.
Data Source
AI summary
A disposable cup with an integrated hinged lid is provided. The disposable cup can be unitarily formed entirely of a wood, cellulosic, or other type of fiber pulp-based material that is readily recyclable using a single recycling process for the entire product. The entire product can be recycled using the same recycling process, as compared to conventional disposable cups which can require the separation of the product into its various components, each of which may require a different type of recycling process.