The trouble with teabags
- 2 days ago
- 2 min read
Until recently most of us used teabags to make a cuppa, without giving it a second thought. Teabags offer convenience, but as our awareness of the impact of plastic on our health and the environment grows, teabags have become a cause for concern.
Recent scientific studies have shown the presence of micro- and nanoplastics in tea. Some of this plastic comes from the tap water, packaging, contamination of the tea leaves, or the kettle, but the most significant source is the teabag when steeped in boiling water. A typical teabag made of polypropylene or nylon is the worst offender, but significant quantities of plastic are also released from biodegradable teabags, which are often treated with a plastic-containing solvent. A single cup of tea prepared from one teabag could contain about 2.3 million micro-sized plastics and 14.7 billion submicron plastics.
The impacts of these microplastics on our health and the environment are not fully understood, but it has been shown that they can be absorbed by human intestinal cells, enter the bloodstream and potentially affect other tissues and organs of the body. They have been linked to an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases, chronic inflammation, reproductive disorders and cancer.
It is impossible to fully avoid exposure to micro- and nano-plastics. They are in the soil, air and water, as well as in our food and drink. But, swapping teabags for loose-leaf is an easy way to reduce the amount of plastic you ingest (and as a bonus you can get a better idea of the quality of the ingredients normally hidden inside the bag). You don’t need any fancy kit – just a strainer of some kind. There is a huge range of different infusers and tisane teapots available, but our favourite is a strainer made of stainless steel that sits in the cup. Simply scoop a teaspoon of loose-leaf tea into your strainer, pour on boiling water, pop on the lid and when the brewing time is up, tip the used leaves into your compost bin and give the strainer a rinse. Once you get used to it, it is just as easy as reaching for a teabag.
At Gathered & Grown we are committed to producing loose-leaf herbal tea and bath herbs with the lowest possible levels of microplastics. We have designed our growing, drying and packaging processes to avoid the use of plastic wherever possible. For example, we use stainless steel drying racks in our dehydrators and package our herbs in glass jars, tinplate tins and compostable refill bags made from sugar cane and potato starch. But, there is still more that we can do and we regularly review our processes to work out where we can make changes, with the ultimate aim of eliminating plastic from our herbal tea production entirely.
