Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Chatting => Chatting on the Plot => Topic started by: BumbleJo on January 25, 2018, 18:40
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So I’ve been merrily chucking all our tea bags in to the compost bin to now discover (BBC News) that there are small amounts of plastic in them, I think it’s in the glue used to seal them, that doesn’t degrade. I’m trying to find some that are fully biodegradable but there doesn’t seem to be any ‘mainstream’ ones. The only alternative is to open each one and dispose of the bag in the normal rubbish to stop bits of plastic getting into the soil but I’d rather not use any with plastic in them. The only other alternative is to use loose tea. I welcome your thoughts on this folks and if you know of fully biodegradable ones that I can easily buy..
Cheers.
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When I spread the compost, I've always just raked off the plastic that didn't degrade and put it in the waste bin.
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I think all tea bags have had some sort of treatment cos if paper gets wet the contents fall out.
saying that I compost mine and don't seem to have to much of a problem with them being visible when emptying the compost heap.
as a child we never had tea bags just loose tea which if I remember got washed down the sink!
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I think all tea bags have had some sort of treatment cos if paper gets wet the contents fall out.
saying that I compost mine and don't seem to have to much of a problem with them being visible when emptying the compost heap.
as a child we never had tea bags just loose tea which if I remember got washed down the sink!
Same here, green jay. Only we always threw our tea leaves on the rhubarb.
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I have more or less stopped using teabags. I got a present of a lovely teapot for 1 which has a filter for loose tea (if you fill it it actually makes enough for two) It made such nice tea that I went out and bought the two and four cup pots and now I only use loose tea and after having tea in my house so do many of my friends and family. I have a little caddy on my counter top and the used leaves go in there and are taken to the compost heap up at the plot.
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For a report in 2017 on major suppliers of tea bags, have a look here
moralfibres.co.uk/is-there-plastic-in-your-tea it appears most do contain some plastics!
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the ones i use don't compost from what I have seen. They get sieved and chucked back in the compost. they might break down eventually I do use leaf tea as well and that gets composted too. All grist to the mill
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The green tea bags that my mother uses don't compost at all! Have to use the rip and rake technique there. My english breakfast ones disappear .... Loose tea for one seems a faff, but since I do use a teapot (always want two cups) I suppose it wouldnt be that hard to change. Hmmmmm....
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Eblana, do you have a "brand/name" for this tea pot please? :unsure:
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HI,
I've the same problem about the bags not composting down 100%, Out of curiosity do you buy your loose
tea from the supermarket or do you get it from elsewhere? How does the price compare to buying bags?
Thanks Dan
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Hubby had mentioned having loose tea, so. Bought him a teapot with filter in it from Sainsbury’s for his birthday,mind you that was in November & it’s still in the bedroom, so maybe he didn’t want it really lol, he wondered about better tasting tea than what’s in the tea bags, as we buy freshly ground coffee online . I did see that M&S had a stainless steel tea pot with the filter in & I also think Bodrun (spelling) do them too.
https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/shop/gb/groceries/mugs--cafetieres---teapots-281865-44/sainsburys-home-glassteapot-with-infuser-131416639-p
Bodum
https://www.bodum.com/gb/en/tea/teapots?gclid=Cj0KCQiAwKvTBRC2ARIsAL0Dgk39s9BdIuRgEnGST1GswEwFsAkZh_Nd5D-ZIwrKvS6WUPXq97UO1f4aAlb0EALw_wcB
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Eblana, do you have a "brand/name" for this tea pot please? :unsure:
London Pottery Company Filter Teapot
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HI,
I've the same problem about the bags not composting down 100%, Out of curiosity do you buy your loose
tea from the supermarket or do you get it from elsewhere? How does the price compare to buying bags?
Thanks Dan
I just buy it in the supermarket, same brand as the teabags. It does work out marginally more expensive because I use their gold blend loose leaf because I find I get a stronger brew from it but if I used their ordinary tea I don’t think there would be much in it.
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HI,
I've the same problem about the bags not composting down 100%, Out of curiosity do you buy your loose
tea from the supermarket or do you get it from elsewhere? How does the price compare to buying bags?
Thanks Dan
I just buy it in the supermarket, same brand as the teabags. It does work out marginally more expensive because I use their gold blend loose leaf because I find I get a stronger brew from it but if I used their ordinary tea I don’t think there would be much in it.
Ok thanks great.
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For what it's worth I drink Asda'a own brand tea and I've found no trace of the bags in my compost. Even when I've got my glasses on ;)
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I never thought of plastic being in tea bags before you mentioned it on this topic but having said that we use quite an abundance of tea bags [Yorkshire ] for us and then there in the compost bin I don't think I'm going to give up my tea bags or leave of dumping them in the compost bin
although I do use bio-degradable plastic on the allotments for some planting and recycle spent plastic where possible
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Teapigs teabags don't compost at all. And they are expensive. Butif you want to give someone a present of unusual flavours (http://) such as jelly and icecream or chilli, well that's your brand. ;) However I don't and use teabags that do compost.
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I know that every little counts but is is it even worth debating? I'm an avid tea drinker and probably use 6 bags a day. I doubt if a year's worth of bags would half fill a bucket
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Thank you Eblana and Snowdrops for the teapot brand names, will investigate. arh.
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Planning on making plastic free tea bags.Teabags with plastic-free seals will be made | Daily Mail Online (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5322407/Teabags-plastic-free-seals-made.html)
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For a report in 2017 on major suppliers of tea bags, have a look here
moralfibres.co.uk/is-there-plastic-in-your-tea it appears most do contain some plastics!
Thanks Engineer, a very interesting article, hopefully manufacturers might start changing their ways. My concern was mainly for the tiny bits of plastic remaining in the soil and general environment forever, rather than my compost. I am now using more loose tea and will tear open any used teabags.
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Eblana, do you have a "brand/name" for this tea pot please? :unsure:
I’ve just bought a lovely little teapot, just holds 2mugs if you get the 550ml size. It has an internal filter and comes in lots of different colours. The make is ForLife and it’s called a stump teapot. It’s not cheap though..
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The amount of plastic is supposed to be be tiny (depends on make), I think to seal the bags. I use them at work mostly, as loose tea in an office is a pain (and it still better than those plastic nespresso-y things!). I have not noticed any accumulation of plastic in the compost/garden but I am hoping they find a new solution. Coop seems to begetting something sorted v soon.
Recently, I bought myself a nice stainless steel filter that sits in cups or pots, and got some tea at a lovely independent tea shop. So much to choose from! Better tea at a better price AND you get to make the strength you like. :D
The other thing I use is an unbleached paper tea sac (bought from tea merchants) that I put in the pot. The advantage over filtering as it comes out is that once it reaches the right strength, you take it out- no stew-y tea. Then straight into the compost.
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Watched the one show this evening and was suprised to hear that on the slot they are doing now on plastice , environment ect that tea bags contain plastic and they said that we are all composting this plastic and putting into our gardens , they didnt say if it was harmful , just wondered if anyone else had heard of this aparently its on the stuff that keeps the bag together .
chrissie b
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I heard that too and was surprised as I thought they were made of paper, but it does explain why they don't rot down properly.
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I compost mine and they rot if i may say shop name 4 letters begining with l , i suppose just empty out discard the bag .
chrissie b
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I've just signed a petition online asking major teabag manufacturers to find an alternative to the plastic that is in the teabags today. it's here if anyone wants to participate:
https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/remove-plastics-from-teabags?bucket=email-blast-15_3_2018_teabags_petitionblast_150318
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If you are going back to loose leaf tea the Japanese style cast iron teapots with filters come in all sizes .
You can also use them on a gas burner in the plot shed if you want ! :)
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We use Waitrose Dutche breakfast tea bags, the best tasting loose tea is Tragathnon? ( Cornish) tea. :D
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I looked on the box and could not find any mention of what the bag is made up of or glued together with , thought it would have to icase of allergys.
Chrissie b
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Since being alerted to the problem of plastic being used in the tea bag paper I am shunning tea bags too now.
I buy loose tea from Ringtons. It is much less expensive than buying from the supermarket and they come to you instead of me having to traipse to the shop!
I do like BC's suggestion above if using filters instead of straining... I feel a Google search coming on