Teabags not entirely biodegradable

A consumer body in the UK has warned that most teabags being sold in Britain today are only 70-80% biodegradable. This will come as a surprise to millions of Britons who drink tea every day. It has been reported that the outer net part of the teabags remains after the tea has rotted away, due to the heat-resistant polypropylene included within it. Major manufacturers have had to respond to this issue: PG Tips said, ‘Like most of the teabags in the UK, our teabags are made with about 80% paper fibre, which is fully compostable along with the tea leaves contained in the bag. The remaining packaging includes a small amount of plastic which is not fully biodegradable.’ Teadirect said, ‘Our teabags are 70% compostable’ and its sustainability manager Whitney Kakos said the use of the plastic polypropylene was ‘an industry-wide practice.’ A spokesperson for Clipper Teas said, ‘Our teabags are composed of vegetable and wood fibres and are sealed with a low level of polypropylene. Our teabags are suitable for inclusion in compost heaps where the fibres will break down. Any remaining fibres will be small and can be dispersed in the soil.’The UK’s government Wrap has advised people to compost teabags anyway. Lynne Gunn, Wrap's home composting expert, said: ‘Our advice remains that teabags are suitable for composting. If the bags are still visible when you want to use the compost, they can be sieved out or picked off the surface of the soil. You can also speed up the composting process by ripping open the bags.’ See also: Market for biowaste-to-energy grows