Gardeners are being warned to never put teabags in their compost bin without doing one thing first – and it’s all to do with the plastic that’s in them
Garden enthusiasts are being advised to put teabags in their garden this summer – but only if they tear them open first. Composting is a highly beneficial practice for your garden throughout the year, transforming your kitchen waste like potato peelings, carrot trimmings and banana skins into rich, nutritious compost that will enhance your garden plants and result in much larger, stronger fruits and vegetables as well as healthier flowers.
You can initiate a compost heap anywhere in your garden with a simple plastic bin, although more costly and sophisticated options exist including wooden composters, multi-opening ‘hot bins’ and various other stylish solutions.
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If you’re on a budget, a basic plastic box or an old bin with a lid will suffice if you just add some airholes for the plant bacteria to utilise for decomposition.
However, those adding teabags to their compost have been cautioned – you must rip open the bags first and pour the raw tea leaves directly in. This is due to the fact that many of the top branded teabags sold today actually contain plastic, reports the Express.
Numerous supermarket brands use plastic in their teabags, which means they will never decompose in your compost, leaving behind a plastic residue which will also pollute your compost with leached plastic chemicals.
Even plant-based teabags, such as those used by Yorkshire Tea, should be cut open, and the bag disposed of separately, not in the compost bin.
Yorkshire Tea states: “PLA tea bags are sometimes called “plastic free”, but we’ve never used that label and WRAP, the people behind the UK Plastics Pact, also advise against it because plant-based plastics are still plastics.”
Their instructions are to cut open used tea bags, compost the tea leaves at home, and dispose of the bag itself in your rubbish bin. Alternatively, you can simply put the whole tea bag in the rubbish.
Consumer advice magazine Which? explains the issue with traditional tea bags: “Tea bags have traditionally been sealed with a plastic called polyproplene, which enables their edges to be heat sealed and stop them falling apart in hot water.
“Small amounts were used, but it prevented them being composted and, due to the enormous amount of tea bags used in the UK, it generated a large amount of plastic waste.”
The recommended approach from the UK Tea & Infusions Association is to rip open the bags, place the used tea leaves on your compost heap, and dispose of the tea bag paper separately in your bin, where it will end up in landfill.