Susie Kearley
LAST WORD
Teabags were first introduced in the Fifties and since gardeners are keen recyclers, are now one of the most prolific items on our compost heaps. However some recently began to notice plastic mesh in their compost and, suspecting this may have come from leftover teabags, began to call some of the ingredients used to make them into question.
In 2010, the consumer magazine Which? investigated this phenomenon and discovered that most teabags contain a plastic called polypropylene, which is not biodegradable. It’s used to heat-seal ordinary teabags and is standard practice in the industry.The report raised a few eyebrows, so seven years later, I wondered whether anything has changed. I wrote to the tea companies to find out.