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
Comment on Plastic tea bags
Sludgehammer@lemmy.world 1 year ago
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.
barttier@feddit.de 1 year ago
Sludgehammer@lemmy.world 1 year ago
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.
barttier@feddit.de 1 year ago
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.
0x0@programming.dev 1 year ago
But it’s cheaper and more convenient! Why’d you care about the future, you a commie? /s
Zitronensaft@feddit.de 1 year ago
Paper tea bags usually contain polypropylene or another plastic so they can be heat sealed shut. They aren’t fully compostable.
HeartyBeast@kbin.social 1 year ago
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.
GreatAlbatross@feddit.uk 1 year ago
Huh, TIL.
They’re now using plant based PLA, at least.
HeartyBeast@kbin.social 1 year ago
TIL too, thanks
0x0@programming.dev 1 year ago
I’d except the land of Her Majesty the 5 o’clock Tea to be at the forefront of teatech.
Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 year ago
Buy loose tea and tea bags.
Test tea bags by burning them. No residue? They should be free of plastics.
accideath@lemmy.world 1 year ago
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
peter@feddit.uk 1 year ago
I tried this but I always end up with tea leaves floating around my cup
Witchfire@lemmy.world 1 year ago
They make disposable tea bags made of the same paper as coffee filters
Carighan@lemmy.world 1 year ago
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…
Sludgehammer@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Well shit. I guess I’m gonna have a lot of micro plastics in my compost then.
Daxtron2@startrek.website 1 year ago
Spoiler, you already do whether or not you compost those.
Sludgehammer@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Don’t I know it. My house is right next to a highway and was apparently placed by someone who loved the sound engine breaking. I probably have tire rubber dust settling on everything outside.