Incompostable teabags!

[smallblueplanet]

Have just read a blog article which basically says todays teabags have 'plastic' (polyester) added to the paper teabag that makes them uncompostable...WTF!!!

Here's the blog article:

blog: coopette.com: Tea break?

[ginger ninger]

I always empty the contents into my kitchen waste bin with the rest of my compostable stuff, then I through the empty bag in the rubish bin, I've lost count of how many I've dug up in the past.

[Jeanied]

They've been like that for a while, SBP - I still hoe up the odd teabag 'husk' on my plot from at least three years ago, before I stopped using them!

[Alison]

Depends on the variety you get, I think most of the mainstream ones went that route a few years ago but the Rington (?) ones we get from some lad that sells them door to door to the MIL compost down just fine so must still be proper paper types. Also use quite a lot of Rooibos ones from the Fair Trade stall in town and they're fine too.

[smallblueplanet]

Never realised what 'normal' teabags were like as I drink Clipper organic (unbleached) teabags, never found any of those...

[nerobot]

I've found Yorkshire tea bags compost quite well.

Steven

[Two_Sheds]

My teabags compost down (Tesco Earl Grey, usually). I do tear them first.

I think it's only premium brands using the nylon bags (they cost 8p each apparently)

[snohare]

Most of the teabags you see uncomposted in heaps are visibly untouched by the slugs etc because the teabag has not been torn prior to being discarded. If the slugs/nematodes/moisture/spores can't get through the barrier of the bag, then it will last years round a solidified lump of reddish brown dirt, unless it is unbleached in which case there is no chlorine to render it non-biodegradable. Once the moulds etc get going right next to the bag even the chlorine will break down chemically, and so too eventually the paper. (I'd guess that many teabags are bleached with oxygen now anyway as that is cheaper.)
Nylon teabags - another great idea from someone who needs to be taxed on the cost of disposing of their product !

[Bren In Pots]

We don't use tea bags I blame my Gran because as a 10year old in the 60's she told me they were made from the 'sweeping ups' and if my Gran said so it MUST have been the truth.

[Two_Sheds]

Bren, your Gran was probably right. The stuff in teabags looks nothing like the loose tea you buy, where you can actually see real leaves.

[northepaul]

Slightly off subject but regarding tea companies.
Twinings are moving their whole operation to Poland and China mid year. Lots of redundancies in the UK, so the company makes more profit by paying Polish/Chinese workers less, land costs less etc.

I wont be buying Twinings again.

[Brengirl]

I prefer the Punjabi? brand but cannot find them on google. Their teabags do not appear to disintegrate either.

[Bren In Pots]

We've always used Co-op 99 tea its a Fairtrade tea and tastes really nice.

co-op fairtrade Tea

[Tam]

We never use teabags as we find that loose tea has a far superior flavour.
When we have visitors, they always comment on the "lovely tea" and a few
of them have converted. Loose tea, however, is disappearing from the shelves and we have to travel a fair distance to get our particular brew.

[Caro]

I consider myself quite fussy. I buy "happy" meat, not cheap meat. I often (although not always ) buy organic. I tend to avoid the cheap alternatives.

BUT Sainsburys basics brand tea bags at 28p for 80 (yes, that's the right way round) are really quite nice. Certainly equal to Tetley. or tesco gold. AND they're fairtrade and I'm hoping at that price they don't contain plastic! Will keep an eye on my compost ...