Have to know which teabags with out plastic exist inside the UK in 2024? Look no further – I’ve rounded up the perfect eco-friendly and sustainable plastic-free tea baggage available on the market correct now. I’ve moreover shared the teabags with plastic, that may help you steer clear of sudden plastic in your drinks.

Once more in 2017, I wrote regarding the stunning hidden plastic in teabags. Teabags that many individuals had been composting in our gardens or by means of our kerbside meals waste pickup. That put up had such an affect as many people realized for the first time that teabags embrace plastic, alongside quite a few totally different stunning objects that embrace plastic.

Since then, I’ve been holding tabs to see the place the tea commerce is in the intervening time at in reducing plastic from the nation’s favourite drink.

As such, I’ve appeared into over 20 teabag producers inside the UK, to see what teabags with out plastic may be discovered. I’ve moreover appeared into how best to eliminate the luggage once you’re achieved.

Why Do Teabags Embrace Plastic?

Chances are you’ll be questioning why there is a need for plastic to be current in teabags. Successfully, plastic (polypropylene to be exact) is added to the paper teabag to help heat seal them all through manufacture. 

Heat sealing the luggage like which suggests the teabags gained’t come open inside the discipline, or your cup. It moreover signifies that these tea baggage aren’t 100% biodegradable. It’s a draw back in that these tea baggage you are composting are leaving bits of microplastic inside the soil.

What Is Microplastic?

Microplastic is an enormous draw back, that is nonetheless being understood by scientists within the current day. Microplastics are tiny objects of plastic, decrease than 5 mm prolonged.

What everyone knows is that microplastics are current in the soil, in the ocean, in our ingesting water, inside fish and totally different animals we eat, and even in individuals. When microplastics are inside the meals we eat and the water we drink, this means we’re ingesting plastic, and the long-term outcomes of this are in the intervening time unknown.

Microplastic comes from a variety of sources. It would in all probability derive from greater plastic particles that has degraded into smaller and smaller objects. Nonetheless, it moreover comes from teabags which have been heat-sealed with plastic, that we have unwittingly composted.

How so much harm can a teabag do, you is perhaps questioning? Successfully, one teabag alone will do little or no harm. Nonetheless, when you consider that inside the UK alone we drink better than 60 billion cups of tea a yr, then it’s various teabags and a whole lot additional microplastic.

The good news is that since 2017 tea producers have started to remove polypropylene from their teabags.

Teabag Terminology

Sooner than we dive in, let me get you up to the mark on a number of of the terminologies spherical teabags.

Sorts of Teabags

First off, you’ll see some dialogue spherical sorts of teabags. Here is a visual data to the sorts of teabags referred to on this data.

What About PLA Teabags?

On this data to teabags with out plastic, you’ll see various dialogue spherical PLA. PLA stands for Polylactic Acid. PLA teabags are technically not plastic-free, as they’re made out of plant-based plastics. It is generally known as a bio-plastic. This merely means the plastic would not come from a fossil fuel-based provide.

There are some factors spherical PLA. Firstly, usually the plant supplies used to provide PLA will likely be sourced from genetically modified (GM) crops.

Secondly, PLA tea baggage is not going to be home-compostable. It’s resulting from this reality important to eliminate them precisely. In case your native council collects your meals waste or yard waste bin for industrial composting, they could compost quickly. Nonetheless, in case your council would not purchase your meals waste, then these teabags perform no in any other case than customary oil-based plastic tea baggage.

Within the occasion you don’t have entry to council meals waste collections, then to eliminate PLA teabags it is best to tear open the bag to will allow you to compost the tea leaves in your yard. Then put the teabag in collectively along with your primary waste.

In the event you want to know additional, do be taught my data on what’s PLA and is it biodegradable for a additional detailed deep dive.

I don’t suppose PLA is a perfect reply. Like many factors of sustainability, there are on a regular basis compromises. Nonetheless, aside from switching to loose-leaf tea en masse, I don’t suppose there is a wonderful reply that will moreover make tea an fairly priced day-to-day staple.

The Plastic-Free Teabags In 2024

Proper right here is the current state of affairs plastic-free tea bag state of affairs correct now inside the UK (updated October 2024), with notes on one of the simplest ways to dispose of each mannequin’s teabags, and if the mannequin offers loose-leaf tea.

Aldi

Place in your meals waste bin | Unfastened leaf tea alternative on the market

Aldi’s teabags are literally plastic-free. In June 2021, Aldi confirmed it was eradicating single-use plastic from its own-brand fluctuate of teabags. We’re blissful to see that this has now rolled out all through the nation. Now all of Aldi’s private mannequin tea – along with decaffeinated, and fruit and pure infusions are made out of PLA – so are industrially compostable.

Asda

Place in your meals waste bin | Unfastened leaf tea alternative on the market

In October 2022 Asda launched that every one in all its private mannequin teabags – along with the Merely Requirements and Additional Explicit ranges – shall be made out of industrially compostable PLA. Asda says “Tea is a staple in most purchaser’s households so for us to make a change which could make such a distinction is a huge second for us.”

Rooster & Combine Tea

Place in your meals waste bin | Unfastened leaf tea alternative on the market

Brighton-based Rooster & Combine sells its hand-blended teas in PLA teabags. Or should you want to steer clear of PLA you could retailer for loose-leaf tea. Alongside its customary black teas, the first house the place Rooster & Combine excels is in its distinctive tea blends. Suppose Rhubarb & Custard, or Chocolate Digestive flavoured tea for one factor a bit completely totally different.

Brew Tea

Place in your meals waste bin | Unfastened leaf tea alternative on the market

Along with its tasty loose-leaf tea alternative, Brew Tea swapped over to PLA teabags in September 2017. Brew Tea then moved over to plastic-free packaging in 2018. Black tea is Brew Tea’s speciality, nonetheless it does carry a small fluctuate of fruit and pure teas.

Clipper

Place in your meals waste bin | String and tag teabags dwelling compostable

Once more in 2017, of us had been most shocked by the reality that Clipper’s unbleached pure teabags contained plastic. Resulting from consumer demand, Clipper took movement, and switched its pillow teabags to a plant-based PLA quite a few years up to now, sourced from non-GM plant supplies.

Co-Op Private Mannequin 99

Place in your meals waste bin

Resulting from consumer pressure, The Co-Op switched its own-brand Fairtrade 99 tea over to PLA teabags in 2018.

Eteaket

Place in your meals waste bin | Unfastened leaf tea alternative on the market

Edinburgh-based Eteaket primarily sells loose-leaf tea. That’s packaged in dwelling compostable Natureflex™ baggage and cardboard caddies. Its tea simply is not essentially the most reasonably priced. Nonetheless, if you already have a caddy, then their loose-leaf tea may be on the market in 100% plastic-free refill baggage, which are a bit cheaper.

Whereas its fluctuate of teabags is small, all Eteakat tea baggage are made out of PLA. These are packed into dwelling compostable Natureflex™ baggage, and recyclable cardboard cartons for a smaller carbon footprint.

Good & Appropriate

Place in your meals waste bin | Unfastened leaf tea alternative on the market

Good & Appropriate’s fluctuate of award-winning teas – from its black teas to its fluctuate of pure infusions – can be found PLA teabags. In the event you want to steer clear of PLA, it is also attainable to retailer for a wide range of tasty loose-leaf teas.

Hampstead Tea

Dwelling compostable or can go in your meals waste bin | Unfastened leaf tea alternative on the market

Hampstead Tea has an prolonged historic previous of sustainability. It was the first tea producer to introduce stitched teabags comparatively than heat-sealed teabags. As such, its teabags have on a regular basis been home-compostable.

Reasonably than resting on its laurels, Hampstead Tea has taken enormous steps within the case of the environment. Consequently, the overwhelming majority of its merchandise are plastic-free (aside from its Earl Grey and Inexperienced Tea with Jasmine tea bag envelopes).

Lidl

Place in your meals waste bin

Lidl lastly launched in August 2023 that will probably be switching from plastic tea baggage to compostable ones. Lidl said that its new compostable tea baggage would land in retailer over the approaching months whereas present stock step-by-step sells by way of. I would take into consideration by March 2024 that it will have purchased its non-compostable stock – nonetheless do confirm the sector earlier than you buy.

Marks & Spencer

Place in your meals waste bin | Unfastened leaf tea alternative on the market

Marks & Spencer quietly switched its teabags over to PLA in 2023, with little or no fanfare. I really feel it’s because of M&S issued a press launch once more in 2018, saying that it was taking a “razor-sharp check out how we use plastics” and that “we’re taking plastics out of all 450 million teabags we promote“.

Despite the fact that it took six years, I am genuinely blissful to see that M&S’s teas are literally compostable.

Morrisons

Place in your meals waste bin | Unfastened leaf tea alternative on the market

One different straggler, I’m blissful to lastly report that Morrisons own-brand tea is now plastic-free. Morrisons says they purchased 331 million plastic tea baggage a yr, so this could be a good step forward.

Neal’s Yard

Dwelling compostable or can go in your meals waste bin

Neal’s Yard 100% pure and eco-friendly tea baggage are FairWild™ licensed. That may be a world customary that helps the sustainable use of wild-harvested parts. It moreover ensures a very good deal all alongside the availability chain.

Neal’s Yard PLA-free teabags are made out of pure abaca (a plant from the banana family) and are oxygen-bleached. This system is chlorine-free and type to the environment. As such these plastic-free teabags can go straight into your property composter.

Nemi

Place in your meals waste bin | Unfastened leaf tea alternative on the market

Nemi is a specialist London-based tea agency that gives a variety of tea blends, every as free tea and teabags. Along with selling great-tasting tea, Nemi presents employment to refugees to supply them native work experience and job readiness skills to enter the UK workforce and to help them mix into broader society.

All of Nemi’s teabags are made out of PLA. Moreover, its packaging is compostable, and its teas are pure, fairtrade and Rainforest Alliance licensed. The packaging is pretty funky too.

PG Recommendations

Place in your meals waste bin | Unfastened leaf tea alternative on the market

PG Recommendations made the change to PLA a number of years up to now resulting from consumer pressure. Now its full fluctuate will likely be industrially composted by means of your meals waste bin.

Pukka

Dwelling compostable or can go in your meals waste bin

Pukka makes pure and fairly sourced pure teas. Its string and tag teabags have on a regular basis been plastic and PLA-free. Nonetheless, each explicit individual bag used to return again wrapped in an unrecyclable plastic-lined envelope. The good news is that Pukka has taken its environmental duties critically, and now makes use of extensively recyclable envelopes. 

Roqberry

Place in your meals waste bin

Roqberry’s flavourful fruit and pure infusions can be found PLA plastic-based pyramids. From banana-flavoured tea to blueberry, these distinctive tea blends tread calmly on the planet.

Sainsbury’s

Place in your meals waste bin | Unfastened leaf tea alternative on the market

I added Sainsbury’s to this plastic-free teabag itemizing in August 2021. After data that from summer season 2021 Sainsbury’s own-brand teabags shall be plastic-free, as part of its ongoing dedication to halve plastic packaging by 2025, this lastly rolled out in-store in August 2021.

The model new tea baggage are made out of PLA and are industrially compostable. What I moreover like is that the packaging is completely plastic-free too. The sphere isn’t wrapped in plastic, and neither is there a plastic foil bag contained within the discipline. Accessible plastic-free tea for the win!

Suki Tea

Place in your meals waste bin | Unfastened leaf tea alternative on the market

Based in Belfast, Suki Tea ethically sources and blends loose-leaf teas, pure infusions and fruit blends from all world wide. Suki Tea is best recognized for its tasty loose-leaf tea, nonetheless, it does have a alternative of PLA-based pyramid teabags.

T2

Place in your meals waste bin | Unfastened leaf tea alternative on the market

Australian mannequin T2 reached the UK in 2014 and has pretty a few Extreme St outlets dotted throughout the UK. I would say T2 is perhaps best recognized for its loose-leaf tea alternative. Nonetheless, its fluctuate of pyramid teabags is made out of PLA for a additional sustainable cup of tea.

Teapigs

Place in your meals waste bin

Sustainable tea stalwarts Teapigs have on a regular basis made teabags with out fossil fuel-based plastic – its tasty tea pyramids have on a regular basis been PLA-based. Nonetheless, Teapigs didn’t stop there. Quite a lot of years up to now the mannequin moreover switched the plastic inside bag to a home compostable bag. Excessive plastic-free marks!

Not too way back a reader educated me that Teapigs is owned by Tata. It’s a large industrial conglomerate that owns many producers – along with Starbucks – which is disappointing to take heed to.

Tesco

Place in your meals waste bin | Unfastened leaf tea alternative on the market

Tesco lastly transformed to plastic-free teabags in 2023. This means all of Tesco’s own-brand black teas, pure teas and speciality teas shall be compostable. Plus, in a daring dedication, your entire billion tea baggage purchased by Tesco – own-brand and branded – are compostable by way of council meals waste collections. 

Tick Tock Tea

Place in your meals waste bin | Unfastened leaf tea alternative on the market

Tick Tock’s fluctuate of naturally decaffeinated rooibos teas is obtainable in every PLA teabags and in loose-leaf codecs. Packaging-wise, the inside pouch of its Chilly Brew Rooibos tea fluctuate will likely be composted by means of industrial composting companies, and the pouches of all totally different Tick Tock teas are recyclable at huge supermarkets.

Twinings

Place in your meals waste bin | Unfastened leaf tea alternative on the market

I’m delighted to report that Twinings have made the change to plastic-free teabags. A spokesperson from Twinings said “We’re blissful to say that your entire teabags we produce use plant-based biodegradable provides, from our black teas to our extensive number of wellbeing blends. The material we use for our teabags will break down completely if positioned right into a neighborhood authority compost caddy or meals waste bin.”

Twist Teas

Place in your meals waste bin | Unfastened leaf tea alternative on the market

Twist Tea’s fluctuate of fruit, pure and black teas may be present in loose-leaf and PLA pyramid teabag codecs.

Yorkshire Tea

Place in your meals waste bin | Unfastened leaf tea alternative on the market

Yorkshire Tea – along with frequent Yorkshire Tea, Yorkshire Gold, Yorkshire Tea Decaf and Yorkshire Tea for Exhausting Water – have, since September 2021, been manufactured from PLA.

Yorkshire Tea moreover says “All our merchandise are literally carbon neutral, and what we want subsequent is for all our packaging to be “spherical” – which means made out of renewable, plant-based or recycled provides, and reusable, recyclable or compostable after use“.

Which Teabags Do Embrace Plastic?

As of October 2024, a few teabags from big-name producers nonetheless embrace plastic. These embrace the following producers.

Tetley

Tetley is in the intervening time inside the technique of switching from plastic heat-sealed teabags. The mannequin says “With 9 million (teabags) to rework, we’re in a position to’t change all of our baggage directly, nonetheless we’re starting with our enormous sellers of fairly Tetley Genuine 120s and 240s“. 

Tetley has been saying this for a extremely very very long time, and I haven’t been able to find a single substitute on this. As quickly as I’ve affirmation that every one in all Tetley’s teabags are plastic-free I’ll switch them out of this class.

Waitrose

It’s slightly little bit of a blended bag at Waitrose. Thus far it appears its private mannequin of caffeinated tea baggage is made out of PLA, so will likely be disposed of in your meals waste bin. And it’s Duchy Pure fluctuate is now dwelling compostable. Nonetheless, its private mannequin of decaf tea is not going to be plastic-free.

I requested Waitrose for an substitute on twenty second March 2024 – I didn’t get a response, so I’ve reached out as soon as extra to them in October 2024. I’ll substitute proper right here if I get a response.

To Conclude The Plastic-Free Teabag Dialog

Many teabag producers have made the change to additional planet-friendly teabags. Nonetheless, it’s clear that a number of of the massive avid gamers, like Tetley and Waitrose ought to have a bit resolution to go sooner than your entire enormous teabag producers are plastic-free.

In case your tea producer of other isn’t talked about proper right here, then do e-mail or tweet them to ask about their teabags.

Phew, that was an prolonged one! Time to position the kettle on for a plastic-free cuppa I really feel! Within the occasion you’ve liked this, then do moreover strive my data to the perfect oat milk. I’ve appeared into all types of ethics behind the popular oat milk producers inside the UK and uncovered all types of murky points.