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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[–] 58 points 2 years ago (14 children)

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

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  • [–] 29 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (5 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.

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  • [–] 10 points 2 years 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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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago (1 child)

    If it's at least possible for those micro plastics to be broken down, would it really matter if they don't break down ina landfill? Either they stay in the landfill forever causing no problems or they leach out / blow away outside of the landfill and voila, proper conditions to be broken down into starches and consumed by bacteria.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago (1 child)

    These microplastics are digestible by your immune system, though, which makes them ultimately harmless. PLA is used for drug delivery for this reason.

    Being concerned about incomplete PLA degradation is like being concerned about a piece of wood breaking down into micro-woods. Yet even if you get a dangerous shard of micro-wood embedded in your skin, your body can deal with this cellose polymer just fine.

    Ultimately it will break down completely someday and in the meantime, nothing will be harmed.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago*

    You appear to be arguing that even if microplastics are present in the environment it's not a problem. That's a brave stance to take given the wealth of information to the contrary.

    Even if they did break down it's bad. Plastics have additives in them which are used to improve their material properties. These additives include BPA and PFAS (and similar). We know that these compounds cause problems in humans and the environment. So if they were "easily digestible by the body" that would absolutely be a big problem.

    There's no world in which "nothing will be harmed" by plastic decaying. Some people even argue that conventional plastics are less dangerous in landfill than bioplastics because at least they don't release dangerous by-products like microplastics or "forever chemicals".

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  • [–] 14 points 2 years ago (6 children)

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

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  • [–] 9 points 2 years ago (5 children)

    Eat Taco Bell and see who shits themselves first.

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  • [–] 12 points 2 years 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

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