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 7 months 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 7 months ago
Sludgehammer@lemmy.world 7 months 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 7 months 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 7 months ago
But it’s cheaper and more convenient! Why’d you care about the future, you a commie? /s
Zitronensaft@feddit.de 7 months 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 7 months 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 7 months ago
Huh, TIL.
They’re now using plant based PLA, at least.
HeartyBeast@kbin.social 7 months ago
TIL too, thanks
0x0@programming.dev 7 months 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 7 months ago
Buy loose tea and tea bags.
Test tea bags by burning them. No residue? They should be free of plastics.
accideath@lemmy.world 7 months 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 7 months ago
I tried this but I always end up with tea leaves floating around my cup
Witchfire@lemmy.world 7 months ago
They make disposable tea bags made of the same paper as coffee filters
Carighan@lemmy.world 7 months 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 7 months ago
Well shit. I guess I’m gonna have a lot of micro plastics in my compost then.
Daxtron2@startrek.website 7 months ago
Spoiler, you already do whether or not you compost those.
Sludgehammer@lemmy.world 7 months 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.