Which tea bags are free of plastic?

Updated 9 September 2024

Most tea companies have made progress about reducing their plastic content since I first covered this topic. A few even offer tea bags which you can compost at home. But not many. Most use polylactic acid – PLA. This is a plant-based polymer – sometimes referred to as a bioplastic – which is industrially biodegradable but won’t degrade in a garden compost heap. Read more about pla.

It came as a surprise to most people to learn that tea bags contained plastic at all. The plastic in question was, and still is in some cases, polypropylene, which seals the tea bag and helps the bag retain its shape in boiling water. Is this important for the tea taste? Not really – it is said to let the tea move around more freely and brew more quickly.

Some tea bags are even worse and made entirely of plastic (nylon and polyethylene terephthalate). Research found that just one of these releases about 11.6 billion microplastic and 3.1 billion nanoplastic particles into the hot tea! This means that humans may be exposed to orders of magnitude more plastic particles than has been reported from previous food and drink studies.

So, if you would rather not put plastic in your tea or your compost heap, or just want to dispense with single-use plastic, what are your choices? The best option is loose leaf tea. If you don’t want to make a pot try a tea infuser. If you can’t give up tea bags, try the ones below. Or you can even buy cotton tea bags to fill with your own loose leaf tea.

PLA

Even if the box says that the tea bags are compostable – don’t put them in your compost bin at home. If your local authority collects a food waste bin, put them in there. Most mass produced tea bags will degrade in industrial composting facilities but not in your garden and you will be left with bits of plastic. Many ‘plastic-free’ teabags are made using polylactic acid – PLA. This is a plant-based polymer – sometimes referred to as a bioplastic – which is industrially biodegradable but won’t degrade in a garden compost heap.

Checklist – Biodegradable Tea Bags & Labels – Yes or No?

Yes – PLA Free – Can home compost

• Hampstead Tea.  They say “Our bags are fully home-compostable and biodegradable” 
• Pukka Tea. They say “Our teabags are certified home compostable, which means you can pop the tea bag paper, organic string and herbs in your food waste bin. The tag should be placed in your paper recycling bin.“
• Neals Yard. They say “made from natural abaca (a plant from the banana family)…tea bags are biodegradable, compostable, unbleached and staple free and are perfect to pop in your home compost or food waste recycling bin.“
• Essential Trading. They say “All of our teas are 100% plastic-free. The boxes are FSC certified, the string is made of organic thread and the bags are home compostable.“
• Harney & Sons. They say “..no epichlorohydrin, PET, or PLA in our paper tea bags. The tea bags are fastened with a knot in the string, there is no glue or staple on the tea bag.“
• Brew Tea Co. Uses Naturflex bags which are made from wood pulp and claim to be home compostable.
• Duchy Organics. Duchy tea bags are now accredited with a TUV OK compost HOME certification so that you can place them directly into a home compost bin once used.

Yes – Plastic-Free but not PLA Free – Can’t home compost

• Clipper
• Teapigs
• Steenbergs organic tea bags
• Nemi
• Abel & Cole – organic tea bags
• Yorkshire Tea – teabags contain PLA. However, they are very honest on their website: “The truth is that PLA tea bags are really only better than oil-based plastic if they go in the right bin: garden waste or food waste bins, for industrial composting by your local council.”
• Barry’s Tea – teabags contain PLA
• PG Tips – teabags contain PLA
• Marks and Spencer – teabags contain PLA
• Asda – teabags contain PLA
• Lidl – teabags contain PLA
• Aldi – teabags contain PLA
• Sainsbury – teabags contain PLA

Some / Maybe / No

• Typhoo – only string and tag tea bags
• Liptons –  75% biodegradable teabags, where biodegradable means industrial composting for PLA
• Sainsbury – taste the difference range
• Twinings – “By 2025, we will ensure that, in all our markets, our consumer packaging is reusable or recyclable and our tea bags are compostable. “
• Tetley –  switching to PLA teabags
• QI “These teabags are heat sealed and therefore contain a small amount of plastic – food grade polypropylene.“

Any recommendations for tea bags or loose leaf tea? Add your comments below.

References and Sources

The web sites of the tea companies
Emails received from the tea companies
Tweets from the tea companies
The Ethical Consumer