I love me a cuppa tea in the morning and I’m not alone.
In the UK there are 165 million cups of tea consumed every day. 96% of those cups are brewed with teabags, the other 4% with loose leaf tea. Most people are not aware that this is actually a big problem.
Many teabags contain plastic, which breaks down when it comes in contact with the hot water. Many brands use polypropelyne glue to seal the bags and keep them from falling apart, some brands have their full bag made out of plastic!
These types of teabags are not biodegradable and will lead to plastic pollution in the compost heap. It also means you are drinking micro and nanoplastics, experts are saying up to 11 billion micro plastics per cup!
Luckily, there are brands that do offer biodegradable teabags: my personal favorite Teapigs, Abel & Cole, Clipper, Co-op's own brand 99, Pukka Herbs, the Twinings pyramid range and the Waitrose Duchy range.
However, the best option is to use loose leaf tea as much as you can so you can keep enjoying your morning cuppa and be sustainably responsible! Teabags didn't even take off in Britain until the 70s, and we did perfectly fine without them before that for centuries, so why not go back to loose leaf tea?
Sources
Countryliving
Forbes