If you’re a regular tea drinker, chances are you’re accustomed to using tea bags. They usually cut a few minutes off the tea preparation time compared to loose leaf tea, and they’re easier to carry around, too! But there’s one issue with a lot of commercially available teabags. They’re mostly made of a food-grade plastic mesh.
These plastic teabags not only release a worrying amount (we’re talking billions!) of microplastics into your cup of tea, but also pollute the environment. The plastic used – usually polypropylene or polyethylene – is what’s used in disposable, single-use masks as well, and it can take up to 30 years just to decompose.
Biodegradable and Eco-Friendly Tea Bags
Thankfully, teabags made entirely from natural sources, such as cellulose, cotton, and starch, do exist! And they’re becoming more and more widespread by the day. These teabags are tailored specifically to decompose and biodegrade within a few months alone, and also lower the amount of microplastics you’re ingesting in a single cup of tea. Such tea bags are known as biodegradable.
An extension to biodegradable teabags is compostable teabags. These have more stringent requirements surrounding how quickly they decompose, and under what conditions – and you can read more about biodegradable vs. compostable here. Zero-waste teabags, additionally, are made entirely of recyclable and biodegradable materials – without any staples or non-natural bits, including the tag.
The Best Brands if You’re Looking for Biodegradable Tea Bags
If you’re thinking of switching over to biodegradable tea bags that are safer for you and the environment both, we’ve got you covered! Here’s a list of the best tea brands you can find that use biodegradable, eco-friendly tea bags.
- Numi Tea
- ChaiBag
- Bigelow
- Republic of Tea
- Yogi Tea
- Argo Tea
- Pukka Tea
- Abel & Cole
- Choice Organic Tea
- Arbor Tea