Are Tea Bags Compostable Nz

The tea bag filter paper is made from.

Are tea bags compostable nz. Instead we use a simple stitch of organic cotton and a unique folding process. Many tea bags contain a thermoplastic such as polypropylene pp the recyclable plastic coded 5 or plant based polylactic acid pla 7. Pukka herbs tea bags are free of plastic tied together with organic cotton and are fully compostable. The bags contain plastic and i was told our current tea bag paper contains approximately 8 recycled plastic which acts as a binder to hold the paper together and therefore we cannot consider it to be fully biodegradable and compostable.

Containing corn starch and printed with water based inks our compostable range is internationally certified for both home and commercial composting. The way tea bags are manufactured varies depending on the brand but according to the guardian about 70 to 80 per cent of bags are made from compostable paper while the remaining 20 to 30 per. Most sources say that their bags do contain a small amount of plastic and thus are not compostable. This includes paper tea bags.

Our empty tea bags are made only with corn starch. Twinings does sell loose tea however if you really love their product. Our tea bags are made using unbleached non heat sealed biodegradable filter paper and are dioxin free. The majority of tea bags contain plastic from fossil fuels.

Depending on which company s tea you re drinking the bags could be entirely 100 biodegradable and perfect for your compost or they may not be which isn t as much of a definitive answer as you were looking for but ultimately it really depends on the brand. They leave no toxic residue. You can expect your ecopack compostable bags to take 90 180 days to decompose depending on compost conditions and leave behind no harmful residues. Best of all your tea is perfectly preserved in its pouch rather than in pre filled tea bags.

The plastics are food grade but that doesn t mean they break down easily see composting clues. On their website they say. I have found conflicting sources of information about the content of their bags across the internet. See our sizing gu.

I imagine this is because there is no information on their website that states there tea bags are compostable. Their tea bags are not compostable. Pukka doesn t use this kind of material. We know that the tea bags will break down within a month in a commercial composting facility but also recognise that these are not yet widely available in nz chanui our teabags are not made of plastic although they are not compostable scarborough fair fairtrade scarborough fair tea bags do not contain any plasticisers or similar material.