Hidden Plastic
I got a surprise yesterday, reading a new blog found through their comment here.
The blog: Treading My Own Path
The post that caused me to blink…
The Scandalous Plastic in Tea Bags – Who Knew?
Oh tea-bags, you innocent-looking things, you. Thinking that just by turning yourselves into a delicious cup of tea I wouldn’t question you. In fact, I didn’t question you. Luckily for me, others did, which led me to this revelation: teabags contain plastic.
Source: Treading My Own Path – The Scandalous Plastic in Tea Bags – Who Knew? Read more of this great post, then come back and see if you agree with my opinion.
Opinion:
Teabags, apparently, contain a small amount of plastic. I didn’t know this, and I wager that you didn’t either.
Personally I am a coffee drinker, but I do enjoy the odd cuppa, especially if I’m crook (ill, for our American cousins), got a sore throat, a dodgy belly and the like.
When I drink tea, it is black (or green, or orange) without milk and sugar, which is why it is great for cleaning out dodgey bellies.
Because I drink so little tea, it is convenient to use teabags. There is also the fact that I have never seen loose tea in Brazilian supermarkets, but then I haven’t looked either; if it is here it doesn’t exactly jump out at you from the shelf.
But I will look.
Especially now that I know about the sneaky teabag plastic.
The blog post suggests that 165m teabags are used in UK alone. If you extrapolate that figure to a global one, the number must be staggering.

Evil, sneaky teabags
Once again we have a situation where our love of convenience (making a cuppa with a teabag) is, a] using oil reserves to make the plastic, and b] creating a further problem with disposal.
And once again, companies don’t want us to know their dirty little secret.
I believe it is now our duty to spread the word, so that more people can make a cuppa with a choice, loose tea or teabag.
There’ll always be those who moan and say it’s not cost-effective to make a pot of tea when you’ve got those handy little teabags that make just the cuppa I need at the moment.

Tea tong
My mother had one of these in the kitchen drawer all my childhood. Sometimes it was used, although she usually brewed a pot for my father, he was not a coffee drinker.
I have not seen one for years, but browsing around just now, I see there are modern versions of the same thing.
I’ll check around, because if I can find loose tea, and a pair of these, teabags will become a thing of the past. And my life will be just a little greener.
Spread the word, so that this dirty little secret become common knowledge.
Posted by Lois Field on July 13, 2014 at 10:00 am
Its crazy all the places they hide plastic.
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Posted by argentumvulgaris on July 13, 2014 at 2:14 pm
>Lois, we can’t escape it, pervasive.
AV
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Posted by oawritingspoemspaintings on July 13, 2014 at 10:28 am
Thanks for spreading the word… I wonder if it’s in the organic tea bags too?
I drank organic herbal teas without sweeteners for twenty years until about a week ago when I realized the taste was not much different than simply drinking warm water which I had observed someone close to us, do lately.
So, don’t laugh but, I changed to drinking it whenever I go to chill out with my family, seldom do I go back to “treating” myself to a herbal one.
Thanks for the share!
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Posted by argentumvulgaris on July 13, 2014 at 2:15 pm
>oa, I have drunk warm water, but don’t tell anyone, I have reputation… 🙂
AV
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Posted by lizard100 on July 13, 2014 at 4:30 pm
It’s ridiculous to add packaging problems to something that doesn’t need it.
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Posted by argentumvulgaris on July 14, 2014 at 2:55 pm
>lizard, quite agree.
AV
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Posted by Joanna on July 14, 2014 at 10:18 am
I’ve been told many times that tea bags are compostable, but I always had a niggling feeling that this wasn’t right. Yet I am still SO disappointed to know that so many brands include plastic in teabags, when it is really unnecessary. When I finish up my current Twinings I’ll do my best to find looseleaf! Thanks for sharing this and spreading the awareness 🙂
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Posted by argentumvulgaris on July 14, 2014 at 2:57 pm
>Joanna, I was always under the impression they were.
AV
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Posted by Lindsay (treadingmyownpath) on July 14, 2014 at 10:39 am
I have a friend who just drinks hot water; my boyfriend calls it “silver tea”! He’s not sure where he picked the name up from, but I like it!
Another thing I do in the morning, instead of a cup of tea I have warm water and juice of a lemon. Meant to be very good for you. No plastic at least! I mostly use loose leaf tea but I did gave tea bags for visitors who drink black tea- won’t be having these any more! Loose leaf all the way from now on! Sneaky tea bags >: (
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Posted by argentumvulgaris on July 14, 2014 at 2:58 pm
>Lindsay, silver tea, that’s a new one for me. I have hot water and lemon when I feel the flu coming on.
AV
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Posted by smallftprints on July 14, 2014 at 10:52 am
Scandalous is right!! I thought those little bags were made of a paper product. Like a few others who have commented, I’ve even read articles about how they can be placed in the compost bin. I’m not a big tea drinker but occasionally I like it … plain, like you. Fortunately, we have loose-leaf options so I’m going after that. Here’s another great alternative … ginger tea. Simply steep a few slices of raw ginger, add a splash of lemon and you’re good to go. It’s lovely and very good for a body.
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Posted by argentumvulgaris on July 14, 2014 at 2:59 pm
>Small, scandal seems to be the new normal. I have made ginger tea from fresh ginger in my ‘garden’. Great stuff.
AV
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