![]() ![]() Our stand-up pouches are made from soft-plastic, with a thin foil lining providing a barrier from light, moisture, and air. T leaf T are members of the Soft Plastics Recycling Scheme - Our stand up pouches can be recycled Soft Plastic Recycling Scheme members here. Every tea we sell is also available in loose leaf and is a better environmentally friendly and sustainable option. No teabag solution is perfect but at t leaf T we believe that the PLA material we are using is the most sustainable solution currently for, convenience based, teabags. Nylon is not compostable, or biodegradable so will be around for hundreds of years. The cost of Nylon is substantially cheaper than PLA so low cost driven produces will mostly opt for nylon because of the price. The pyramid tea bags look nice, but the material is entirely a petro-based plastic. The nylon tea bag material has been around since around 1996 as the PLA technology did not exist at the time. So, most paper tea bags contain approximately 98% paper fibre, that will break down in home composting, BUT 2% of the teabag is petro-based nano plastics that are not compostable or biodegradable. To be able to seal the tea bags, petro-based nano plastics are blended into the tea bag material by the material manufacturers, about 2 % of the teabag, so that when heat and pressure are applied it melts the plastic and the teabag can be sealed. They Require heat sealing to close the tea bag because the paper fibres do not naturally adhere to each other. Paper tea bags have been around for almost 100 years. The technology currently exists to achieve home compostability, however it has the tea bag material breaking down in in a matter of weeks so this material would not be a practical option for a long shelf-life like product like tea. PLA tea bags are 100% INDUSTRIAL or COMMERCIALLY COMPOSTABLE -100% NON-GMOĪt t leaf T we would love our PLA tea bags to be easily home compostable, but the technology is not there yet. PLA behaves like a plastic, even though it is plant based, this enables the sealing of the tea bags using ultrasonic vibrations that effectively welds the seams together at a specific temperature without the need of petro-chemical based plastics. PLA (polylactic acid) is mainly extracted from corn or sugar cane and is then spun into thread which is used to weave the clear material that is used in t leaf T’s teabags. PLA teabags have been around since the mid 2000’s and they are 100% Plant based (non-petroleum based) and our NeoSoilon® Pyramid Tea bags are derived from sugar cane. ![]() PLA tea bags – used by t leaf T – commercially compostable and 100% non-gmo ![]() There are generally 3 main types of tea bags: Pyramid shaped tea bags made from PLA – Polylactic Acid (t leaf T only uses this type), old style paper tea bags (usually rectangular and heat sealed), Pyramid shaped tea bags, made from nylon. ![]()
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