How to wash a reusable cup: a peek inside a cleaning facility
How to wash a reusable cup: a peek inside a cleaning facility
2023-06-22
More and more companies are adopting reusable cups, in the aim of becoming more environmentally friendly. They’re “rented” instore, and brought back to any other branch of the store to be washed and reused. You can use one hundreds of times. But have you ever considered how these cups get washed and maintained? Today we take a visit to the cleaning facility where these super-cups are brushed up for their next performance.
If you forget to take your own thermos or cup to the coffee shop, it’s easy to get a reusable cup from the store. But do you know how the company cleans and sterilizes these cups? Let’s take a look at the process.
Once on the production line, damaged cups are filtered out. A worker assesses how dirty the cup is and places it in a tub. The water current will gently push it onward.
Chou Hsien-ming
Reusable cup cleaning company
There’s stain remover powder in the water. When the water is 50 to 55 degrees in temperature, this powder is the best thing to remove the grime from the cups.
After the cups have rinsed in cleaning fluid, they go in the washing machine. The soap suds are rinsed away with spray, and they go in a high-temperature disinfectant machine. Finally they cool down in a drier, and are sent to an inspector who will check they’re up to standard before packing them up to be returned to the store. The whole process takes about 30 minutes. This facility can handle up to 6,000 cups a day. And to make sure standards are high, this test is also vital.
Chou Hsien-ming
Reusable cup cleaning company
The first batch of cups to be washed goes through a four-step test. We only put through a large batch of cups for that day after the first batch tests negative.
The cups are made with food-grade polypropylene, which can stand temperatures up to 120 degrees and be reused almost 1,000 times.
Wu Tsai-hua
Convenience store sharing services department
If about 10% of users can get in the habit of using a reusable cup, then over one year we will save 60 million cups, which is about 750,000 kilograms of garbage.
Tang Cheng
Reusable cup cleaning company
If the cup has any damage or scrapes on it, then it gets broken down and remade into another product, such as a flowerpot or a plastic container, a garbage can, or a plastic floor tile.
From cleaning and reuse systems, to recycling materials into new products, about 833 convenience stores and fast-food outlets in Taiwan are currently implementing some form of reusable cup, in an effort to make their businesses less wasteful.
循環杯租借"專業清潔" 比親自手洗還乾淨
2023-06-22
響應淨零碳排，越來越多民眾自備環保杯，許多業者也推出"循環杯租借服務"，除了原地借還，還能甲地借、乙地還，但是可重複使用的特性，也令人產生衛生疑慮。事實上，使用過的循環杯，會經過除垢、高溫殺菌等專業清潔流程，甚至比自己動手洗還乾淨，帶您一探究竟。
買飲料、咖啡除了自備環保杯，向店家借用循環杯也十分方便，但使用過的循環杯怎麼清洗消毒？一起深入產線直擊。
產線人員先篩選損壞的杯子，並區分髒污程度，接著將循環杯放進水槽，順著動態水流往前移動。
[[循環杯清洗消毒廠副總周憲銘]]
“水有添加除垢粉，這個除垢粉用50度到55度的水溫，最適合去除杯子本身的髒污。”
靜置去除污垢後，下一站來到清洗機，像是淋浴一樣沖掉泡沫、穿越高溫殺菌區，再由烘乾機風乾降溫，最後送交品管，確認符合標準，才能密封裝箱出貨。整趟流程約莫30分鐘，一天最多洗上6000杯。為了確保徹底清潔，還得進行這項檢測。
[[循環杯清洗消毒廠副總周憲銘]]
“清洗出來的第一批杯子，我們都會經過4道工序的檢測，呈現陰性之後，才會做當天大批量的清洗。”
採用食用級PP塑膠材質的循環杯，既可耐120度高溫，還可重複使用近1000次。
[[超商公共事務暨品牌溝通室部長吳采樺]]
“如果大概有1成的消費者，可以開始習慣來使用循環杯，1年下來約可省下6000萬的杯子，大概可以減少75萬公斤的垃圾量。”
[[循環杯清洗消毒廠共同創辦人湯誠]]
“如果它有些破損或刮傷，就會把它破碎再製成其他產品，類似小花盆、容器，或是垃圾桶、塑膠地板。”
從清潔重複使用，到破碎再利用，目前全台至少833處超商與速食門市，已導入循環杯租借服務，就要落實循環經濟。
Related News
