What are paper cups made of?
Paper cups take paper, polyethylene and ink directly. Trace them back and you pass 29 made things on the way to 18 raw materials.
How paper cups are made See it on the map
What goes straight in
From the ground: 18 raw materials
- Water through ink
- Kaolin through paper
- Limestone through paper
- Timber through paper, wood pulp
- Natural gas through polyethylene, ethylene
- Soybeans through ink, vegetable oil
- Rapeseed through ink, vegetable oil
- Clay through ink, vegetable oil
- Crude oil through ink, carbon black
- Air through ink, carbon black
- Titanium ore through ink, titanium dioxide
- Iron ore through ink, pigment
- Sulfur through ink, pigment
- Corn through ink, ethanol
- Sugarcane through ink, ethanol
- Rock salt through ink, titanium dioxide, chlorine
- Coal through ink, titanium dioxide, coke
- Sugar beet through ink, ethanol, baker's yeast, molasses
Made along the way: 26 things
Metals 1
Chemicals and fuels 20
EthyleneCarbon blackTitanium dioxidePigmentEthanolCaustic sodaQuicklimeOxygen gasHydrogen peroxideNaphthaHexanePhenolFormaldehydeChlorineSulfuric acidHydrogenBenzenePropyleneMethanolToluene