this post was submitted on 11 Mar 2024

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Mildly Infuriating

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471

Plastic tea bags (lemmy.world)

submitted 8 months ago by BigTrout75 to c/mildlyinfuriating

148 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I decided to have a green tea because it's healthier than soda. It's healthier, right?

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10389239/

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[–] janonymous 196 points 8 months ago (4 children)

The first time I saw a bag like that, I was shocked as well. Seems like just the worst idea to use plastic to create tea bags. Turns out it is and they weren't made out of plastic. It's a starch based fiber that is biodegradable. I don't think you could have plastic tea bags here in the EU in any case. I'd wager yours isn't plastic either. Yeah, so you probably got mildly infuriated over nothing, just like I did the first time I saw one of these 🤷

[–] MrsDoyle 36 points 8 months ago (2 children)

https://youtu.be/limwsUnH4iQ?feature=shared

Regular teabags are sometimes made using non-biodegradable plastic - be sure to buy those made with this starch based plastic. When I first saw biodegradable teabags I was surprised, I thought teabags were made of paper. Not so, it turns out.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Here is an alternative Piped link(s):

https://piped.video/limwsUnH4iQ?feature=shared

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[–] [email protected] 24 points 8 months ago (2 children)

there's still a decent chance it's only industrially biodegradable: at higher temperatures and pressures than a good ol' home compost pile normally ever gets near. It could still be a bit infuriating.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 8 months ago

It's dope having municipal compost pickup, guys.

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 8 months ago (8 children)

I can't really find a source for it, but I remember the EU banning plastic in tea bags quite recently, a few years ago at most. Here in the Netherlands, a lot of tea bags contain(ed) plastic as some kind of sealant.

Also, a lot of tea contains sugar, for no good reason whatsoever.

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[–] [email protected] 88 points 8 months ago (20 children)

Plastic tea bags are really disappointing. It's not enough that plastic is everywhere thanks to tire dust, I have to drink it, too? Cool.

At home, I use loose leaf and a metal strainer. Makes less waste, and there's no plastic.

[–] Chainweasel 44 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I have to drink it, too?

If it makes you feel any better, there's so much microplastic everywhere that there was going to be plastic in that water regardless of what the tea bag was made of.

[–] LordKitsuna 8 points 8 months ago (4 children)

And there's not even really anything you can do about it. Reverse osmosis should be able to get rid of microplastics but the fucking containers for the filters are plastic and the lines running between them are plastic so they're just going to reintroduce microplastics even after filtering!

There was a recent study showing that boiling water could actually break down and remove a surprising number of microplastics so I guess for making tea you might be a little better off but still

[–] [email protected] 15 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

That's a little hyperbolic. There's a lot of mechanics at play in generating microplastics. Fabrics have microscopically thin strands of plastics. It should be no surprise that rubbing up against thousands of tiny strands every time we move and wash synthetic fabric clothes releases many tiny particles. Plus clothes have to deal with UV degradation making the plastic more brittle.

The plastic components in an RO system should be specced to not leach plasticizers. They should have smooth walls and laminar flow. There shouldn't be much to abrade the plastic surfaces and shed particles. They may not be perfect, but water from an RO system will have orders of magnitude fewer microplastics. So an RO system still "does something about it."

We do need to address the problem, but I wouldn't want people to avoid beneficial remediation just because it has some plastic components.

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[–] [email protected] 58 points 8 months ago (3 children)

Are we sure thats not the commonly used silk tea bag? Why do we think this is plastic?

[–] [email protected] 29 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

They are from polylactid and decompose without a trace and without microplastic. Paper tea bags on the other hand often contain around 20% polypropylene and cause microplastic.

[–] zik 10 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (4 children)

Despite claims to the contrary, PLA does usually break down into microplastics. It's possible that under certain conditions (such as those found in industrial composters) those microplastics might be broken down into starches and consumed by bacteria, but most teabags will just end up in landfill and won't break down beyond microplastics.

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Arghh, two conflicting replies. What do we do?!!

[–] ohlaph 9 points 8 months ago (5 children)

Eat Taco Bell and see who shits themselves first.

[–] Agent641 8 points 8 months ago

A gentlemen's duel for the modern age.

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Silk is expensive. Almost all pyramidal tea bags are nylon and/or polyester (at least in the US). Only premium stuff is going to be made of silk and they'll advertise it as such

[–] Sludgehammer 43 points 8 months ago (6 children)

God I hate those. Paper tea bags you can toss into the fireplace or in the compost depending on the time of year, but those plastic ones you can't do anything but chuck them into the trash.

[–] [email protected] 34 points 8 months ago (11 children)

Paper tea bags usually contain polypropylene or another plastic so they can be heat sealed shut. They aren’t fully compostable.

[–] [email protected] 36 points 8 months ago (3 children)

Certainly in the UK, there has been a real push for fully compostible teabags. Clipper Tea and PG are fully compostable. Yorkshire Tea was not, last time I looked - which is why I stopped drinking it.

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[–] [email protected] 32 points 8 months ago (3 children)

Is that even tea? It looks like broccoli and carrots.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 8 months ago (3 children)

Soup is just vegetable and bone tea

[–] [email protected] 10 points 8 months ago

bone apple tea

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[–] [email protected] 27 points 8 months ago

It's not plastic

[–] johannesvanderwhales 25 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I just use a reusable filter for loose tea. Oxo makes a nice one.

[–] PM_Your_Nudes_Please 10 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Yup, tea cakes with a reusable metal filter. Each cake is wrapped in paper, not plastic. Then you just use a metal mesh filter.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 8 months ago

How much tea does one of those cakes make or do you break them up beforehand?

[–] [email protected] 22 points 8 months ago

Micro plastic stew

[–] [email protected] 21 points 8 months ago (3 children)

Almost all teabags contain plastic. They're heat sealed. Remember, if you're old enough, they used to be stapled closed?

Yep capitalism is awesome.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 8 months ago (3 children)

Some still are. Bigelow I think.

But loose leaf tea is much better quality anyway and avoids the issue of what's in the bag entirely. They also have ceramic filters so you can completely avoid having plastic in contact with hot water

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[–] Nacktmull 20 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

Laughs in loose leaf

[–] [email protected] 9 points 8 months ago (9 children)

Loose leaf club!

signature look of superiority

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[–] ThePowerOfGeek 17 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Some brands now use plant or cellulose derived material for their tea bags. Though they still use plastic for the outer wrappers, which is a bit annoying.

[–] Carighan 8 points 8 months ago

now

Now?! That used to be the default until some hipster companies started fucking shit up with their shitty plastic pyramid bags.

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Do worry, there is micro plastic in the tea and in the water

[–] [email protected] 13 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Also in your blood, brain, tissue, children, pets, ...

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 8 months ago (8 children)

Isn't it cheaper to buy loose tea and use a tea ball? Does that avoid this entire problem?

[–] Jarix 7 points 8 months ago (2 children)

I bought a giant bag of lapsang souchon and usually just use my french press. I also bought like a hundred empty paper tea pouches that have alson been good for making spiced apple juice

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[–] RozhkiNozhki 12 points 8 months ago (2 children)

I drink tea from similar bags and they look the same but they are actually biodegradable SOILON bags, maybe this one is too?

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 8 months ago (5 children)

How do you know it's plastic? I doubt that it is. Fabric can be made airproof by wetting it. That's how you can use your pants as a life vest too.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 8 months ago (3 children)

These are extremely common tea bags found all over the world that are well known to be made of plastic.

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[–] rolling_resistance 7 points 8 months ago

I was in a supermarket recently, and looked at the tea selection (I usually buy it at a more specialized place). There were almost no options without bags; quite disappointing.

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