| PP food container | PS food container | EPS food container | |
| Main ingredient | Polypropylene (PP) | Polyethylene (PS) |
Foamed polypropylene (Polypropylene with blowing agent) |
| Thermal performance | High heat resistance, can be microwaved to heat PP, use temperature: -30℃-140℃ | Low heat resistance, PS operating temperature -30℃-90℃ | Low heat resistance EPS operating temperature ≤85℃ |
| Physical properties | High strength, high hardness and high elasticity | Low impact strength, fragile and breakable | Low toughness, poor impermeability |
| Chemical stability | High chemical stability (except concentrated nitric acid and concentrated sulfuric acid), high antiseptic effect | Can’t load strong acid and strong base materials | Low chemical stability, chemically reacts with strong acids, strong bases, flavors and other substances |
| Environmental impact | Decomposition can be accelerated by adding degradable materials, easy to recycle | Hard to degrade | Hard to degrade |
PP microwave food container is resistant to high temperatures of 130°C. This is the only plastic box that can be placed in a microwave oven and can be reused after careful cleaning. It is important to note that some microwave lunch boxes, the box body is made of No. 05 PP, but the lid is made of No. 06 PS (polystyrene), PS has good transparency, but is not resistant to high temperatures, To be safe, remove the lid of the container before putting it in the microwave.
PS is a material used to make bowls of instant noodle boxes and foaming fast food boxes. It is heat-resistant and cold-resistant, but cannot be placed in a microwave oven to avoid the release of chemicals due to excessive temperature. And can not be used to contain strong acids (such as orange juice), strong alkaline substances, because it will decompose polystyrene which is not good for the human body. Therefore, you should try to avoid using fast food boxes to pack hot food.
EPS food container is made of Polypropylene with blowing agent, and it is not popular any longer due to BPA, which would be harmful for human’s health. Meanwhile it has very poor performance on Thermal physical and Chemical stability, difficult to degrade, bad influence to the environmental.
Post time: Jul-21-2021