Paper & Card

Paper and card are made from natural fibres and is biodegradable.
Both can be recycled.
Paper/card  can also be further treated to make it more durable.

Laminated Paper has a thin lining of plastic.This is true of labels through to book covers. Plasticized paper products include almost all paper products used in food packaging for example wraps of sugar and disposable cups.

Greaseproof  Paper also known as  parchment paper  is used in baking and cooking. It provides a heat-resistant, non-stick surface to bake on.
It is also used to pack greasy foods like butter.
It used to be made by beating the paper fibres. Now it may have a plastic or chemical coating. even the stuff you cook on.Read more  here

Waxed Paper  Waxed paper  was coated with wax to make it water proof. In most cases was has now been replaced with plastic laminated paper. It looks like waxed paper or card but isn’t. Tetra paks are an example of plastic laminated card replacing waxed cardboard containers. Read  here

Foil 

Most foil used to pack food is also plastic laminated.Butter wraps wine corked and foil lids are all laminated with a thin layer of plastic.

Spotting Laminated Products

To find out if paper or foil is plastic coated you can try tearing it  which may cause the plastic and paper to part company. Often this won’t happen and the product will tear almost like paper but if you look carefully you will see a very fine frill of clear plastic.

If you are still not sure try soaking the wrapper in water – eventually the paper or foil will separate from the plastic film.

More

Paper can also be bleached – which is unpleasant. Read more about bleached paper here.

Other plastic lined products include cardboard, tins and cans.
Find other sneaky plastics here….