Just (half) watched a thing on FB saying there is plastic in teabags! I mean how?

[KatyMac]

I thought they composted nicely?

Am I missing something?

My aim currently (as a non-coffee drinker) is to reduce my straw using (maybe 6-8 a year!) and my cling usage - is foil better (it seems worse in it's creation) or is there a nice alternative

& not buying new plastic 'things' bamboo seems an alternative is it better? I mean I now it's natural but so is palm oil and that's worse than plastic

It's never ending, isn't it.

Tea bags here: www.countryliving.com/uk/create/food-and-drink/news/a3291/plastic-tea-bags-environment/

I'm using beeswax wraps which can replace cling film - I plan to make some more. You just need beeswax and scraps of cotton.

My neighbour had a bamboo plant that had spread from her neighbour, and it was very fast growing and invasive. My understanding is that it is the way in which it grows so well with limited resources that makes it environmentally friendly. Obtaining palm oil is a much more destructive process.

so I have been sticking them in composting for all my adult life!

Is beeswax endangered with the decline of the bee?

I buy some Assam type tea leaves and a box of Earl Grey and mix them. I do use a tea pot but if it's just for me, I use one of those metal mesh balls that you fill with leaves and dunk. Whichever way, it's just tea leaves going into the compost bin.

Its effectively used instead of glue to seal the top. The quantity if very small. I think the vast majority of people would have other ways they could more effectively cut single use plastic out of their lives without getting too stressed about teabags (and I speak as someone who is on a mission to reduce single use plastic at home).

I couldn't believe it when I first heard! Even my food caddy says 'tea bags' on the front.

Some of them are made of a plasticy substance

Do you mean the tea bag itself is made of plastic?

A tiny amount of plastic is used as a glue in most teabags (to stick the edges together) and as a strengthener in the mesh of some (to stop them ripping). This teeny amount of plastic is said to be compostable as it breaks down easily in the soil. It doesn't actually biodegrade though (because plastic doesn't for hundreds of years). It breaks down into micro-plastics, which then find their way into the food chain causing unknown damage to wildlife on the way.

Some types of teabag (Pukka for example) are stitched with cotton and plastic-free.

If your tea bags have broken down in your compost bin then you will be adding microplastics to your soil.I have for years been finding them not broken down in mine,and it is not just to seal the small amount make the bags stronger and easy to heat seal.Uts a small amount but how many teabags are we using each year.
I am now on loose tea and slowly manufacturers are waking up as there is more money to be made selling it bagged rather than loose.

Some teabags use fine plastic mesh instead of paper. Our compost heap is full of little plastic bags from before we figured this out. The triangular ones seem to be the worst.