Which Tea Bags Do Not Contain Plastic in Australia? (Solved!)

Having plastic in you are tea bags means that you won’t be able to use them for things like compost in gardening. So what plastic-free tea bags are available in Australia?

The main plastic-free tea bags available in Australia are Lipton for the black and intense teas, Pukka, and Natural’s Cuppa Organic. These tea bags have various materials, from hemp to cotton to paper, which means that they are compostable and are not always recyclable. 

Let’s discover what materials these plastic-free tea bags use, tips for how to find plastic-free brands, and what tea brands to avoid if you’re looking for plastic-free tea bags. 

Plastic-Free Tea Bags in Australia

Here are some of the main brands that don’t use plastic for their tea bags. Keep in mind that indie brands also provide plastic-free tea bags; they only require a bit of research to find. 

• Lipton (Quality Black and Intense): These tea bags use manila hemp and cellulose fibers. This means that they are compostable, but they aren’t recyclable. It makes them perfect for things like gardening and creating mulch, though. 
• Pukka: These tea bags use folded and stitched together organic cotton along with their own unique folding process. The result is a plastic-free tea bag that you can put into your compost or garden. 
• Nature’s Cuppa Organic: These tea bags use unbleached paper that doesn’t have any polymers or plasticizers. The only thing to remember is the metal staple used to close the tea bag, which is not compostable or recyclable. 

Tips for Finding Plastic-Free Tea Bags in Australia

If you decide to find your own Indie plastic-free tea bag brand, here are some tips to ensure you’re getting what you want.

1. Find out what they seal their bags with, not the bag’s material: In most instances, tea bags we made with silk or paper, but it’s the sealant that can have plastic materials in it. Find out if the brand uses polypropylene or sealing plastic to keep their bags from opening while brewing. 
2. Pick tea bags without strings or tags: If your tea bag has a string attached to it, there’s a high chance it contains plastic or the label attached to the string has plastic. The string is also held in place many times by a tiny piece of plastic sealant. Having a string might be more convenient, but it could also introduce microplastics into your tea. 
3. Avoid tea bags with an inside lining: Many individual tea bags have a plastic lining that helps keep them fresh and ensures that the tea leaves don’t escape the mesh of the tea bag. 
4. Look for bioplastic sealants: Many brands that use plastic-free tea bags use a bioplastic sealant instead of polypropylene. This sealant uses plant sources such as cornstarch or maize, which don’t contain any microplastics. 

Consider Switching to Loose-Left Tea

Buying your tea and already individual tea bags is incredibly convenient and can have many other benefits if you’re willing to hunt down the right kind. Switching to loose leaf tea is the most environmentally aware, and it will help you avoid any microplastics you don’t want to consume.

Loose leaf tea usually comes in a reusable tin or recyclable packaging, so you don’t have to worry about producing waste from the packaging alone. Then the tea itself doesn’t have any bags, so there aren’t any plastic sealants that you need to worry about.

Tea Bags with Plastic to Avoid

Unfortunately, plenty of brands out there choose to create their tea bags using plastic because it’s cheaper and more convenient. Here are some of the brands in Australia that still have plastic as part of their two bags, so you can avoid them if you choose to.

• Tetley: Any tea bags without strings have a tiny bit of plastic in the bags to ensure that the tea bags stay closed while steeping your tea. 
• Lipton (Green Decaf, Chai, and Herbal): Lipton is one of those brands with different materials for their tea bags, depending on which type of tea you buy. The green decaf, chili, and herbal tea bags have thermal plastic fibers that aren’t compostable or recyclable. 
• Bushells Tea: Bushells is one of the oldest tea companies in Australia, but they also have thermoplastic fibers in their tea bags, making them not compostable or recyclable. 

What are Microplastics, and Why are They Bad?

You’ve heard the word microplastics a few times in this article, but what does this even mean, and why should you be so wary of allowing it to be in your tea?

Microplastics are tiny pieces of plastic usually less than 5 mm wide and come from larger plastic pieces breaking down over time, such as bags and water bottles. In the case of tea bags, these tiny pieces of plastic are already small enough to be thought of as microplastics.

The issues with microplastics are twofold: one being the environmental impact and the other being the health risks when ingesting them.

Doctors have examined stool samples from people After ingesting microplastics from water or tea bags. While they could find traces of microplastic, there’s still some uncertainty about the long-term consequences of eating plastic, but the theory is that it isn’t ideal. 

In an article from the University of Aveiro, scientists found that exposure to microplastics could impact the immune system, leading to many other diseases, including cancer, on the more extreme end. However, there is so little research at the moment that there’s no way to know how much microplastic will cause these effects or how long ingestion needs to happen. 

If you’re more on the environmental impact side of things, the biggest problem with microplastics is that they’re so small that it’s tough to clean them up, making it easier for them to get into soil and water to pollute them.

Conclusion

The main tea brands in Australia that don’t have plastic in their tea bags are Lipton for their black tea, Pukka, and Nature’s Cuppa Organic. These brands use plant-based materials for their tea bags and sealants instead of plastic bags or sealants, as many larger brands use.