How to remove smells and tea stains in plastic cups

How to remove smells and tea stains in plastic cups

In this time and age, plastic has become a widely used material for various purposes including dinnerware or drinkware because it’s a material found cheap and there’s no shortage of it. However, plastic is a material that absorbs odor, and if you used a plastic cup to serve a beverage, especially with a strong smell, then the smell is highly likely to remain which you will not like. Most of all, removing the odor can be difficult from the cups, and the smell may linger even after you clean the cups thoroughly with soap or hot water. In the end, you may be forced to purchase new ones.

Likewise, plastic cups are prone to get stains, especially tea stains. Tea is a hot beverage that can leave brown stain overtime on your plastic cups, and depending on the severity of the stain, it can be extremely difficult to remove. Although chlorine bleach can be used to remove the stain, that could make the color fade and degrade the material over time.

So to make it easier for you we’ve listed some easy steps so you can remove the smell and tea stains from your favorite plastic cups.

Smell

Although reading the above text may indicate that removing the smell is exceedingly difficult, but it’s not. What matters is that how you do it. Now, let’s see the simple steps to remove the smell lingering on your plastic cups.

Step 1

Pour 3 cups of lukewarm water in a bucket or large bowl and add 1 cup of baking soda, then stir the water until the baking soda gets distributed evenly into the water.

Step 2

Next, put your plastic cups that smell into the bucket or large bowl. Leave the cups in the baking soda solution at least for eight hours.

Step 3

Take the cups out from the baking soda and rinse them with warm water in case there is any baking soda lingering. Dry the cups and make sure to smell to see if there is any smell remaining.

Step 4

By chance, the cups still smell, then wet a paper towel with white vinegar. Rub the inside of the cups with the white vinegar-soaked towel and any further smell that is lingering.

Finally, get rid of the vinegar by washing the cups with liquid detergent and warm water. Use warm water to rinse the cups thoroughly and wash them afterward.

Tea Stains

Just like removing smells removing stains or more specifically tea stains is easy as well. Below are some simple steps to get rid of tea stains from your favorite plastic cups for good.

Step 1

Wet a cleaning rag with lukewarm water and add 2 teaspoons of baking soda onto the rag.

Step 2

Clean the cups with the rag and pay attention to the stained areas especially. Also, make sure to rinse thoroughly and dry the cups to see if the stains have been removed or not.

Step 3

If it was still not effective, then fill the cups with warm water and 2 teaspoons of baking soda. Make sure the baking soda has been evenly distributed in the water by stirring.

Step 4

Leave the solution onto the cup for half an hour or hour.

Step 5

Repeat the process if it’s necessary

Step 6

Rinse clean and dry the cups after all the stains are removed.

Janeevan Slyke is a Digital Marketing Specialist who works as the Chief Digital Marketing Officer at Ventcube, a Digital Marketing Agency.