Cookware: Titanium, Aluminum, or...Paper?

by Alicia MacLeay
January 10, 2012

Would you buy a foldable, disposable cooking pot made out of... paper?

Alex Lee hopes so. He designed the 100-percent paper, origami-inspired Hexa Pot for boiling water indoors or out. The idea came after watching his wife carry paper plates to the family campsite while he hauled pots and pans.

The Hexa Pot is made of multi-ply paper with non-toxic waterproofing (FDA compliant), similar to paper plates and cups. It's intended solely for cooking liquid foods like water, coffee, milk, hot chocolate, and tea, or for cooking foods that contain liquid, like pasta, soup, chili, shabu shabu, ramen noodles, and udon.

Presumably you'll want to watch closely for flare-ups, lest you lose paper pot and meal. Hexa Pot warns that the stove's flame must stay under the pot's center, under any water, and never reach the pot's outer edge.

The Hexa Pot is designed for a single use, which is either its selling point or its flaw, depending on your outlook. It can be used more than once on occasion though, depending on its last use. It comes in two sizes (small and large), packs flat in a pack, and can be folded into a hexagonal pot with spout for pouring. When done with your meal, recycle or compost it appropriately.

Lee is now trying to raise $25,000 in pledges on Kickstarter by January 27 to produce the Hexa Pot.

So, what do you think? Is there an outdoor activity or user just waiting for a disposable, paper cooking pot that costs a couple bucks? Lightweight survival or emergency preparedness kits? Global travelers to certain locales? Groups of germ-phobic campers?

Or is the Hexa Pot yet another idea in search of a solution? Can a product designed to be disposed of after one or two uses be considered "eco-conscious," even if it is recycled or composted? Pots take 24 to 36 months to compost in the right environment. Would users be tempted to ditch those compostable paper pots in the backcountry?

Can a paper pot and a backpacking stove safely coexist?

We'll let you know after we get our own Hexa Pot sample in a few weeks.

Small Hexa Pot