4 Common Types of Paper Materials for Paper Bowl Cup & Their Differences

Paper is a basic raw material used to manufacture paper bowls as well as its lamination (PE Film, PP, PLA film, and Water-base barrier coating). With modern paper pulp manufacture developed, a variety of paper materials is introduced as paper material for making paper bowls and paper cups.

Different Paper materials have a great impact on the thickness, durability and printing effect of paper bowls. In this article, we explore the difference between four common types of paper materials so that you can decide what’s best for your applications

Kraft Paper

As the popular sustainable and most commonly use paper material, kraft paper is ideal for food packaging and catering service. Kraft paper is durable and tear-resistant paperboard. In Germany, kraft means strong.

Thus, the kraft paper is perfect for takeout containers and takeaway services. With its natural brown look, it is timeless fashion to use kraft in eco-friendly paper packaging.

Virgin Kraft paper is a more eco-friendly paper type. During the kraft paper manufacture process, there are almost no bleached and fewer bleaching chemicals.

What is more, the kraft paper is recycled. After it is been recycled, it can be used where there is no requirement on food grade and high tear resistance for example carton box

Advantages of Kraft Paper:
  • Extreme durability
  • Eco-friendly
  • Biodegradable
  • Natural Beauty
Disadvantages of kraft paper:
  • Poor Grease & Water Resistant Without lamination
  • Less a possibility of printing colour
kraft paper bowl with printing

Cupstock Paper(White paper)

Cupstock paper made from renewable resources is a popular solution for food-grade paper material for making paper cups and paper bowls.

It has an excellent smooth surface for printing performance. This makes cupstock the best choice for presenting your brand image.The majority of printing paper bowl use cupstock paper.

It can be applied both in hot and cold food service:

1. One polyethene lamination for hot food(1 pe)

2. two side polyethene laminations for cold food(2 pe).

Besides, due to its smooth surface treatment, Cupstock paper has superior moisture and grease resistance with good lamination.

Advantages of Cupstock Paper:
  • Outstanding print quality
  • Good Brightness with glossy lamination
  • Sustainable and renewable
  • Food-safe
  • Great strength
  • Great grease resistant
Disadvantages of Cupstock Paper:
  • Logo printing on the surface will be easy been scratched if the printing operation is improper
  • Some supplier uses a fluorescent whitening agent to reduce the production cost
image2

Bamboo Paper

Bamboo paper is totally different paper material which is made from bamboo plants not from wood pulp. As an Emerging Resource, Bamboo is an important non-Wood Fiber paper raw material.

As the bamboo plant grows far much faster than a wood tree (bamboo just needs 3-5 years to reach maturity), bamboo paper is more sustainable and eco-friendlier than kraft and cupstock.

Because of its greater tensile strength (higher than steel), Bamboo paper is more tear resistant than wood paper (kraft and cupstock). The bamboo paper bowl is more durable compared to the paper bowl made of other paper materials.

It is commonly known that bamboo plants have an anti-bacteria substance called” bamboo Kun”. Because of this property, the bamboo paper is antibacterial and antifungal it can bring a longer shelf life of food in the paper bowl.

Advantages of bamboo paper:
  • Great strength
  • Sustainable
  • Antibacterial
  • Eco-friendly
  • Lightweight
  • Food grade
  • Unbleached
Advantages of bamboo paper:
  • Less a possibility of printing colour on the natural bamboo colour
bamboo

Paper Lamination with Aluminium Foil Film

Paper Laminated Aluminum Foil film offers super good durability for paperboard and can handle high-temperature food or beverage, combined with thick paperboard, and PE lamination.

The Aluminum Foil layer has A great feature is that Aluminum Foil paper bowl is excellent heat resistant and keeps the hot food or liquid warm for a longer time

Paper Laminated with Aluminum Foil film is also able to maintain takeaway food and beverage well without damage from freezing, taste change or smell change during the delivery to the customer’s hands

It can be applied in many hot food services, including instant noodles, ramen bowls, Spicy hot pots or hot soups.

With aluminum foil layer on paper, it can support cooking food in the paper bowl on the induction cooker. It is widely used in the convenience store to cook instant noodle like 

Advantages of Paper Laminated with Aluminum Foil
  • Great strength
  • Durable
  • Food grade
  • Heat-resistant
  • Good printing quality
  • Heatable on induction cooker
Disadvantages of Paper Laminated with Aluminum Foil
  • Poor Acid Resistance
  • Higher price than normal paperboard
paper bowl on induction cooker

Paper Materials & Advice from YANXIYAN

Still unsure which material is right for your foodservice business? Why not speak to our expert packaging team today?

With over 10 years of experience in the food packaging industry, we have the knowledge needed to advise on the right paper materials and solutions for your needs.

We stock a variety of paper materials including kraft paper, bamboo paper, cupstock paper, and Paper Laminated with Aluminum Foil so that you can order your paper bowl with confidence.

Our takeaway paper bowl range expands to the paper salad bowls, paper soup cups, and our small snack paper bowl for all your food service needs

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