Make My Tea Plastic-Free
More companies have begun to package their tea in tea bags made from plastic and, unfortunately, tea is not the only thing that's ending up in your cup…
A December 2024 study by the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) found that tea bags release between 8 million and 1.2 billion microplastic and nanoplastic particles per millimeter of boiling water they're dunked in. These findings are in line with those of other recent studies including a 2019 study done by McGill University in which researchers found that a single tea bag can releases more than 11 billion microplastic and three billion nanoplastic particles per cup.
Even tea packaged in what appears to be a paper tea bag can fill your cup of tea with plastic fibers from the sealant used to glue the paper shut or from a coating on the string.
People who drink tea may be repeatedly dosing themselves with billions of plastic particles, some of which are small enough to infiltrate human cells.
In the meantime, there are a few simple steps you can take to avoid microplastics in your teacup.
Stop buying tea packaged in single-use tea bags.
Opt for loose leaf tea that you can either order in a tin or buy in bulk at your local grocery store, coop or natural foods market.
Brew your loose leaf tea in a ceramic, glass or stainless steel infuser or tea ball - these are cheap and easy to find online if you can’t pick one up at a home goods or kitchen store locally.
If you absolutely cannot bring yourself to switch to loose leaf tea, the three companies whose tea bag ingredients appear to not contain plastics are: Stash Teas, Numi Tea, and Yogi Tea.
Happy tea drinking!