The Problem With Teabags and How They’re Adding to Plastic Pollution

If you like to enjoy a nice cup of tea, you’re no stranger to teabags. However, if you’re concerned about the environment, you may want to think twice about that habit – because teabags contribute to plastic pollution, which you may not have heard about.

Teabags can contain plastic for two reasons. Firstly, some teabags are entirely out of polypropylene – a non-recyclable plastic. Secondly, many paper teabags contain plastic glue or other plastic additions.

Creating waste

Needless to say, all these teabags which can’t be composted or recycled are creating a lot of waste. While it may seem marginal in the big scheme of things, think about how many tea bags you use daily. Imagine all the other tea drinking around the country, the amount of waste can quickly skyrocket.

Releasing microplastics

However, it isn’t just that teabags sit in landfills, not degrading. They also release microscopic plastic particles (microplastics) into our drink and nature once they are discarded. According to a study published in the Journal of Environmental Science and Technology, a single plastic teabag releases 11.6 billion microplastics and 3.1 billion nanoplastics into your cup of tea. Because of that, they’re adding to plastic pollution and endangering our health at the same time.

What’s so wrong with microplastics? The fact is that we still don’t know about microplastics and all of their effects on our health and the environment. However, the findings we do have access to are quite alarming.

When it comes to our health, microplastics can cause damage to the whole body, from damaging cells to inducing immune reactions. Plastics that contain BPAs can also release them inside our bodies. However, as we mentioned before, more research is needed to determine how exactly, and to what degree, microplastics affect our health.

When released into the environment, microplastics present a dangerous form of plastic pollution – because they’re so small, they’re difficult to track, study and remove from nature. They can severely affect wildlife, especially smaller organisms, which may starve to death upon ingesting microplastics that block their digestive systems.

The solution

Firstly, you could choose to use plastic-free bags – several brands make their teabags plastic-free. Keep in mind that when a brand doesn’t state that their teabags are plastic-free, they usually aren’t.

You can limit waste even more by using loose leaf tea. All you’ll need for that is a stainless steel tea strainer or infuser, and you’re ready to brew some plastic-free tea!