Why aren't tea bags composted?
Until recently, the only place to properly dispose of tea bags was a landfill. This is because many tea bags are traditionally sealed with a small amount of oil plastic, which means they cannot be recycled or composted.
While the tea leaves themselves are compostable, storing them in tea bags that contain plastic eliminates any chance of them turning into organic matter.
Even organic tea bags are known to contain small amounts of polypropylene, the plastic that helps with the bag's sealing and tying. The compound cannot be broken down, and even with commercial "green waste" composting, small particles remain.
Britons drink millions of cups of tea every day, which leads to a huge amount of unnecessary waste that ends up in landfills, with devastating effects on the environment. Landfills can damage local ecosystems and release powerful greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, accelerating climate change.
