Short version:
The bag that tea comes in for your morning brew will more likely than not contain plastic. Be wary of claims like ‘all plant based material’ as A-level kids often make plastic from potatoes as a Chemistry practical. This has actually become a sneaky post on looking at the little choices we make everyday that affect the environment. Hopefully this can help you look at what small changes are possible without feeling like you have to sacrifice too much.
Most of the bag is made from natural fibres but in order for the edges to seal when pressed with heat there needs to be a small amount of plastic in there.
I originally started writing about composting but then I started to ponder the plastic in tea bags. That’s the dangers of taking a tea break! Most tea bags are made from biodegradable materials but in order to make them heat sealable there needs to be some plastic in there. Don’t be fooled by the claim that a tea bag is completely made from plant-based material. That’s sometimes the marketing department being a little sneaky. You can make plastics out of plant material. It does break down – eventually. The problem is that biodegradable plastic could be worse for the soil (source: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969718327219).
We compost tea bags. What we should do is remove the tea out of the bags for composting and put the actual bag into the bin, but if I’m 100% honest I’d have to admit that I sling in the tea bags just as they are about 95% of the time. I just can’t be bothered. Yes, they have little bit of plastic in them, but I don’t know if that’s going to do the soil, the plants or our health much harm. I use plastic pots to grow things in. I use wire supports that are coated in plastic and ties that have plastic. There will be some plastic residue in my soil anyway. I’ve found tiny bits of plastic chopped up in shop bought compost before. These are all macro plastics and not very damaging. Apparently, it’s the micro (1mm = 1000micrometres) and nano (1mm = 1000,000 nanometres) plastics that are more harmful. They harbour pathogens which can harm soil and plant health and these micro and nano plastics are the ones that get into the waterways when washed out of the soil. Looking into this I’ve found much more worrying things. Lots of developing countries recycle municipal waste into soil fertiliser. An admirable thing in a way, but with the large amount of plastic clothing (anything that is poly-something is a plastic) being washed, there is a large amount of microplastics ending up going through the pipes. There’s also been an increase in the use of plastic in farming techniques e.g. using thin plastic to cover the ground as a mulch and residues of plastic can wash off them.
Acrylic (polyacrylonitrile) and polyester are fibres made from plastic. Goodness only knows what mixed fibres is. 
Tumble drier fluff of millions of tiny fibres from clothes. Most is washed away in the washing machine. Yes – I know tumble drying is bad. We try to reserve it for emergencies.
I guess when all is considered I think that the existence of micro plastics in my soil is probably inevitable. It’s better to compost the tea bags than not at all and the stress from worrying about it (yes – I’m an eternal worrier) would probably be more damaging than ingesting anything taken up by the plants. Besides if there are microplastics leaking out of the tea bag… then… er… it’s already gone into my tea. Apparently, the presence of worms in the soil help with the damaging effects of micro plastics. When it comes down to it, the tea bags are only a small percentage of what we compost anyway. The tea bags are better off in compost than landfill, where micro and nano plastics could still leak into waterways.
The mind then wandered on from tea bags and I started thinking about how small changes make a difference. Yes, I should remove the bag and compost just the tea, but I could direct my effort to do something that makes a bigger difference. Composting tea bags is better than not. Small things don’t have to be perfect solutions. For now. I think in order to change human behaviour to negate some of the damage done to our environment we have to accept that it CAN be done in baby steps. If you start to consider the environmental impact that every single decision has in our daily routines it becomes so overwhelming that it’s easy to just give up. Even putting on a clean pair of polyester socks every day has an impact. Any beauty or cosmetic products we use, including handwash has an impact. Transport is a big issue and it’s not possible or practical for everyone to cycle or walk to work. The environmental impact of food miles and packaging are complicated issues. Things grown locally may have a larger carbon footprint than something with more food miles when you consider the growing conditions required and farming methods. Reducing packaging on some goods may lead to an increase in food spoilage, which then means more energy is used to process more food. Of course, growing some of your own food removes both the food miles and packaging problem.
So, here are just a few ideas that maybe you could try if you don’t already:
Deodorant in a jar 
Bamboo toothbrush. 
Shampoo and shower bar. 
Toothpaste tablets and mouthwash tablets 
Recycled loo roll in paper, gets delivered in bulk in a cardboard box.
- Grow some stuff – even herbs on a windowsill.
- Recycle and/or compost what you can.
- Talk about it to other people. Many of us aren’t aware of how little things can make a difference.
- Toothpaste tablets instead of a tube version. There are also tablets you can dissolve in a glass of water to make mouthwash too.
- Soap in cardboard or paper rather than bottled shower gel. My skin has not liked that change at all so it may not be a permanent change for me. If anyone knows of a great moisturising soap, I’d be so grateful if you’d post it in the comments. Though for it to be a permanent solution I’m afraid I must consider the costs too.
- Shampoo bars to reduce plastic. Unfortunately, the better value ones aren’t so good for my hair. I have found a place on the high street that does a refill service for a shampoo and shower gel that I could try.
- Who gives a crap? is a company that sells recycled loo and kitchen roll that comes in paper and cardboard packaging.
- Second-hand stuff like clothes, toys and DVDs are also good for the pocket. My little one’s school does a great used uniform sale to raise money for the PTA – maybe you could encourage something like that in your local school if they don’t already.
- Mend clothes or upcycle rather than buying new.
- When you do buy new, consider natural fibre clothing. This is another hard one for us as it tends to be more expensive. Cotton and bamboo are great options. Viscose is also made from cellulose. The processing of viscose may use a large of amount of energy or chemicals but when you wash your laundry, any fibres that escape into the water will not be plastic.
- Look for food with minimal packaging. Waitrose packages their minced meats in shrink wrap. All other supermarkets that I’ve seen uses lots of harder plastic packaging. Again, this isn’t something we can afford to do often.
- Eat less meat. I’m afraid this is where our family falls very short. We eat meat every day. We could start by having a meat free day once a week.
- Carry a bottle of water so you don’t buy bottled water if you get thirsty when out and about.
- Carry a plastic bag folded up in your wallet or handbag.
- If we’re luck enough to have a second child, we will make an effort to use cloth diapers (we know where we can get some second-hand ones). No promises. If we have another child as difficult in the first 6 months as our current monkey, I doubt I’ll be making the best choices.
- I’ve heard with interest about menstrual pants, but I’ve yet to take the plunge.
- Take a reusable cup to a coffee shop. The impact coffee growing has on the environment is a whole other issue, but we are talking about small changes for now. Baby steps.
If you can think of any easy things that anyone/everyone can do (obviously the menstrual pants won’t apply to over half of the population) then please do make suggestions in the comments. Also if you have any great experiences with any of the above or any insights feel free to comment.
Sources:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-50260687
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969718327219
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2008/mar/23/food.ethicalliving
Not a Horticulturist 
I used to put whole used teabags in my compost bin, expecting them to decompose and disappear. The contents did, but left an intact bag behind that didn’t. Years later, after spreading the compost, I found empty crumpled teabags flying around my garden in the wind. That’s when I realised the bags had plastic in them, even ones that were sold as compostable. A friend wouldn’t believe me! Some people just don’t listen to the evidence or facts before they put their brain into gear, and trumpet what they think.
A certain American politician comes to mind.
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LOL. Sadly there is much misinformation out there and sometimes it can depend on who has the loudest voice. I can almost imagine you sending your friend photos of your ghost tea bags as evidence. I had a similar thing the first time I moved into a home with a garden. I found dozens of these little papery bags floating around the garden. It took me while to figure out that the previous occupant had been using their tea bags as compost.
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Hello Notahorticulturist.
I like this list of ideas and would like to add a few small and one big idea(s):
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Thanks Gabriel. Well – there you go. Some more options, and a resource for ‘digesting.’ As much as I’d love to be able to compost excretions I’m afraid living in London with small gardens it’s not really an option. I’m afraid I don’t know much about it, having never done it, but I would have thought as long as it is properly composted and the pile reaches a hot enough temperature to destroy all the pathogens it would be an amazing nutrient rich fertiliser. I think my dad’s farm back in China used to do it 70 odd years ago. I shall have to give this book a read and see what I can learn.
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Dear Notahorticulturist,
there is so much to learn from the humanure-book. About the smallest – microbes – so vilified – but actually rather helpful. Immensely helpful and beneficial.
And we can learn about us human races. Some so vilified in our press and politics. But this books talks about respect and even admiration … particularly for your fathers and ancestors practices…
quote from the book:
One of the most remarkable agricultural practices adopted by any civ-
ilized people is the centuries long and well-nigh universal conservation and
utilization of all [humanure] in China, Korea and Japan, turning it to
marvelous account in the maintenance of soil fertility and in the production
of food. To understand this evolution, it must be recognized that mineral
fertilizers so extensively employed in modern Western agriculture have been
a physical impossibility to all people alike until within very recent years.
With this fact must be associated the very long unbroken life of these nations
and the vast numbers their farmers have been compelled to feed.
When we reflect on the depleted fertility of our own older farm lands,
comparatively few of which have seen a century’s service, and upon the
enormous quantity of mineral fertilizers which are being applied annually
to them in order to secure paying yields, it becomes evident that the time is
here when profound consideration should be given to the practices the
[Asian] race has maintained through many centuries, which permit it to
be said of China that one-sixth of an acre of good land is ample for the
maintenance of one person, and which are feeding an average of three peo-
ple per acre of farm land in the three southernmost islands of Japan.
[Western humanity] is the most extravagant accelerator of waste the
world has ever endured. His withering blight has fallen upon every living
thing within his reach, himself not excepted; and his besom of destruction
in the uncontrolled hands of a generation has swept into the sea soil fertility only centuries of life could accumulate, and yet this fertility is the substratum of all that is living.
Page 34
The Humanure Handbook 4th ed., Chapter 6
Regarding composting humanure in a small garden I agree that there may be obstacles too big to overcome. You mention the “hot enough temperature to destroy all the pathogens”. There are two factors that have an impact on the destruction of pathogens: temperature and TIME. I leave my compost for TWO YEARS to cure. For this you need space. A limiting factor in a small garden.
On the other hand I feel your answer shows a western obsession with microbes=pathogens. I believe that we massively overestimate the risks of pathogens – and at the same time poison ourselves with endless amounts of CHEMICALS. Many of them used to kill the pathogens (that are not half as pathogenic as we fear).
We have been able to thrive as humans alongside microbes for millennia. But we may struggle to continue to thrive with massive loads of chemicals. Could the fate of the killer whales be what is coming for us humans? https://www.earth.com/news/uk-killer-whales-extinct/
The amazing miracle of composting is that is deals with BOTH.
Another quote from a whole chapter about just that question of CHEMICALS. And these chemicals are NOT taken out of our WATER through ANY OTHER PROCESS. We are drinking water low in pathogen but HIGH in chemicals. EVERY DAY.
Interesting that the mesophilic temperatures were more effective
in removing the contaminants, presumably because there is a higher
diversity of microorganisms with more “tools” at their disposal. This
phenomenon was replicated in a study involving polycyclic aromatic
hydrocarbons (PAHs), organic pollutants that are widely distributed
in the environment, are frequently detected in soils, and are toxic, even
carcinogenic. This study “proved that mesophilic conditions were bet-
ter performing than thermophilic conditions. The highest removal of
three- and four-ring PAHs were observed in reactors displaying
mesophilic conditions.” On the other hand, the highest removal of
five-ring PAHs took place under thermophilic conditions. Compost-
ing, in this case, “was considered a high efficiency biostimulation strat-
egy for the degradation of persistent PAHs. . . .” 45
The Humanure Handbook 4th ed., Chapter 10: Compost Miracles
I apologize – I am obsessed with my humanure… But I also love your blog!
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Oh no…. please don’t ever apologize for a passion for trying to spread knowledge that is beneficial to the world. I’m sure you can’t convince everyone but if anyone at all benefits from your information then everyone benefits right? As is the way when people make changes that help our natural world.
Ahhh… no. I definitely meant pathogens. I’m all for microbes. I love a bit of lactofermtation. When I have time there’s often a kimchi or saurkraut fermenting away in a corner of the cupboard. When potty training I’ll happily pour a bit of baby wee on the compost to help it out (and also dilute it for the garden). I’m also convinced that there is a connection between C-sections and antibiotics to a lack of healthy gut biome in the baby that might lead to food allergies. The research in that, as far as I understand, is not conclusive but paediatric allergy specialists that I have spoken have told me that there is research happening. I even try to avoid too much cleaning in the house. Partly because I’m lazy but partly because I think it’s healthier for the baby to be exposed to more microbes.
Because it is human waste that will eventually be reintroduced back into a human inhabited environment, any pathogens still present could be a problem. That being said, if it is the same human being exposed that is producing the waste then there should be no introduction of new diseases, which should be safer as that human should already have been exposed to that pathogen and already have immunity. Of course, if the pathogens have been removed by time and temperature then there would be no ill effect at all.
I think I’d basically love to have a small holding or live where I could have a couple acres for a garden so I could have an orchard and build a forest garden and learn about practices like these. I love to really experience being self sustaining.
I was sad to read about the whales. There is so much that we don’t understand regarding the the impact of so many of our lifestyle choices. Humans are basically slowly killing everything around us, including ourselves. I was horrified to read recently about the nanoplastics in bottled water and am grateful to live in a country where water is available out of the tap (although, as you say, there are plenty of chemicals in there). Of course, microbes are also utilised in the purification of water. Another example of how some microbes are fantastic.
Thank you for reading my blog. It is lovely to hear (or read) that someone likes it.
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