God I hate those. Paper tea bags you can toss into the fireplace or in the compost depending on the time of year, but those plastic ones you can’t do anything but chuck them into the trash.
Don’t I know it. My house is right next to a highway and was apparently placed by someone who loved the sound of engine breaking. I probably have tire rubber dust settling on everything outside.
Then you either need a strainer with a finer mesh or smaller holes, or courser ground tea. I‘d recommend the former. My strainer has very small holes and at worst there’s a bit of tea power at the bottom of my cup
Certainly in the UK, there has been a real push for fully compostible teabags. Clipper Tea and PG are fully compostable. Yorkshire Tea was not, last time I looked - which is why I stopped drinking it.
Though I bought relatively large paper-based filters before that explicitly said they were fully compostable. And since loose tea beats bagged tea 90% of the time anyways…
Yeah, except those are actually from polylactid and decompose completely without microplastic. Paper tea bags on the other hand are often mixed with polypropylene and ironically contain microplastic and don’t decompose completely.
The best way is a tea strainer anyway
Are you sure those aren’t nylon bags? Anyway I’ve found PLA’s biodegradability highly over rated. When Sunchips were doing those PLA bags I threw one into a worm bin, when I emptied the bin a year later it looked pretty much unchanged.
Tbf: I’m from germany and can only speak for our local market.
Yes PLAs decompose slow and waaay slower than advertising suggests and need certain conditions, but they are still the better choice over polypropylene.
God I hate those. Paper tea bags you can toss into the fireplace or in the compost depending on the time of year, but those plastic ones you can’t do anything but chuck them into the trash.
Paper tea bags usually contain polypropylene or another plastic so they can be heat sealed shut. They aren’t fully compostable.
Well shit. I guess I’m gonna have a lot of micro plastics in my compost then.
Spoiler, you already do whether or not you compost those.
Don’t I know it. My house is right next to a highway and was apparently placed by someone who loved the sound of engine breaking. I probably have tire rubber dust settling on everything outside.
Buy loose tea and tea bags.
Test tea bags by burning them. No residue? They should be free of plastics.
Or: a reusable metal tea strainer. You just need to take 2 minutes every time to clean it but they’re no excess waste whatsoever
I tried this but I always end up with tea leaves floating around my cup
Then you either need a strainer with a finer mesh or smaller holes, or courser ground tea. I‘d recommend the former. My strainer has very small holes and at worst there’s a bit of tea power at the bottom of my cup
That’s the mother fuckin T
Certainly in the UK, there has been a real push for fully compostible teabags. Clipper Tea and PG are fully compostable. Yorkshire Tea was not, last time I looked - which is why I stopped drinking it.
I’d except the land of Her Majesty the 5 o’clock Tea to be at the forefront of teatech.
Huh, TIL.
They’re now using plant based PLA, at least.
TIL too, thanks
They make disposable tea bags made of the same paper as coffee filters
Though I bought relatively large paper-based filters before that explicitly said they were fully compostable. And since loose tea beats bagged tea 90% of the time anyways…
But it’s cheaper and more convenient! Why’d you care about the future, you a commie? /s
Yeah, except those are actually from polylactid and decompose completely without microplastic. Paper tea bags on the other hand are often mixed with polypropylene and ironically contain microplastic and don’t decompose completely. The best way is a tea strainer anyway
Are you sure those aren’t nylon bags? Anyway I’ve found PLA’s biodegradability highly over rated. When Sunchips were doing those PLA bags I threw one into a worm bin, when I emptied the bin a year later it looked pretty much unchanged.
Tbf: I’m from germany and can only speak for our local market.
Yes PLAs decompose slow and waaay slower than advertising suggests and need certain conditions, but they are still the better choice over polypropylene.