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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[–] 196 points 2 years ago (17 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 🤷

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  • [–] 36 points 2 years ago (3 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.

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    [–] 88 points 2 years ago (26 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.

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  • [–] 44 points 2 years ago (6 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.

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  • [–] 8 points 2 years ago (5 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

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  • [–] 15 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 child)

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

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

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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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  • [–] 43 points 2 years ago (20 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.

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

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

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    [–] 32 points 2 years ago (6 children)

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

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    [–] 27 points 2 years ago

    It's not plastic

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  • [–] 25 points 2 years ago (2 children)

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

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  • [–] 22 points 2 years ago

    Micro plastic stew

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  • [–] 21 points 2 years ago (6 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.

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    [–] 20 points 2 years ago* (10 children)
  • [–] 17 points 2 years 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.

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    [–] 15 points 2 years ago (3 children)

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

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  • [–] 15 points 2 years ago (10 children)

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

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    [–] 12 points 2 years 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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    [–] 12 points 2 years ago (8 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.

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    [–] 7 points 2 years 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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