"Reusable and biodegradable", bamboo cup stores lethal chemical components you should know about. (Image via Hemstead Oracle Record)

Bamboo cups are not always biodegradable and "might" be harmful to your health: Study

Alfonsus Adi Putra
Business & Industry
Environmental Energy & Material
Nov 15, 2019
2163
Go green means no plastic. To show their love for nature, environmentalists want to use all things but plastic. From many options, bamboo is one of the options. Therefore, it is common to see environmentalists use cutleries or any kitchen appliances made of bamboo.

However, we hope they are ready because this article might prove them wrong.

A consumer organization based in Germany, Stiftung Warentest, stated otherwise on 23 July. The organization pointed out that bamboo appliances, especially bamboo cups for drinking, are not 100 percent eco-friendly and it may harm you as well!

The organization tested 12 reusable bamboo cups in one month from March to April 2019. The findings were shocking.

First thing, they said that the 12 “reusable, biodegradable” bamboo cups are not 100 percent BAMBOO! Furthermore, the information listed on the cups is somehow misleading. The cups might have been once a bamboo stick.

However, to make it to a cup, these bamboos need to be ground to powder and molded into a cup.

Therefore, it led to the statement that it requires an additional chemical component to hold the bamboo powder altogether. Drum roll, please. It was later found that these bamboo cups used melamine resin!

The chemical component consists of two main components, formaldehyde and melamine. It acts like a glue and is no different from the plastic material.

Because it is not 100 percent bamboo, it is no biodegradable regardless of the “biodegradable” label.

We have covered the environmental aspect, now let’s talk about its harmful effect on your health. Melamine component in the cup may lead to several diseases such as bladder and kidney damage. You might want to keep your bamboo cups away from heat.

But what if you want to drink warm or hot chocolate; or, tea? Stiftung Warentest stated that as long as the temperature is below 70°C.

Meanwhile, formaldehyde may lead to skin irritations on your external and internal organs; even cancer!

After reading the statement from Stiftung Warentest, the Swedish furniture company, IKEA, immediately sent its “reusable and biodegradable” bamboo cup, Mugg, for retesting. It was found out that Mugg contained a high amount of melamine.

By this finding, we hope that people who care about nature will also pay delicate attention to the packaging label.

Source: https://mothership.sg/2019/11/bamboo-reusable-cups-environment/

Business , Medical , Health , Chemical , Environment , Bamboo-cup , Recycle , Biodegradable