Composting tea bags

leeside11

Setting up a compost bin here atm, using Supervalue teabags here atm, just wondered are these compostible and are coffee grounds the same Tia.

Harry Palmr

Only if you are willing to cut every bag and empty the tea out. The bags have a plastic content.

Any teabags which are not part plastic will tell you on the box (it's usually the expensive and niche brands)

leeside11

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Only if you are willing to cut every bag and empty the tea out. The bags have a plastic content.

Any teabags which are not part plastic will tell you on the box (it's usually the expensive and niche brands)

Can't find anything on the box, so I'll just use the loose tea leaves. Thanks

Lyons tea bags are now plastic free, may be an option for you.

magicbastarder

It’s called PLA, or polylactic acid, which is supposed to break down in a home compost bin but could take some time. It is recommended that it goes into an industrial civic composter.

https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/food-and-drink/is-there-plastic-in-your-teabags-most-probably-yes-1.4109634

so from that, i would suspect they don't actually break down in a domestic dalek composter.

TheTeainEMT

Or Aldi

Their bags are compostable. Have been doing so myself for the last year

Harry Palmr

Oh Diplomat brand, we are posh! Is that Aldi's version of Lidl's De Luxe?

(it's a pity that if the bags are fully compostable the foil they come in is not at all compostable - kinda ruins the effect)

magicbastarder

the problem is with the definition of what's 'compostable' AFAIK. some will compost in a high temperature municipal composter, but will emerge unscathed in a domestic context.
my wife bought compostable bewleys brand nespresso pods, and they've been through our dalek composter twice and still look pretty much brand new.

TheTeainEMT

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Oh Diplomat brand, we are posh! Is that Aldi's version of Lidl's De Luxe?

(it's a pity that if the bags are fully compostable the foil they come in is not at all compostable - kinda ruins the effect)

All fur coat in this house lemme tell ya 🀣🀣

The amount of tea I drink the kitchen caddy can be predominantly tea bags. Ive composted them in both the dalek in the garden and my pallet bays on the allotment. Have never found any plastic mesh from them like I used to with other brands.

Yes it is a pain the foil has to go in the black bin.

Compostable products are very poorly labelled. Theres a big difference in whatll break down in the garden and what needs to go in the bin for industrial composting

El_Duderino 09

if you have a kitchen compost bin for holding peels and whatever else, it's easy to tear open the tea bags and empty them. Only takes a few seconds. I didn't know they bags actually had plastic, but I always wondered why they didn't seem to decompose so that solves that mystery. I've been emptying them for a while and it's easy enough.

Hocus Focus

TheTeainEMT wrote: »

All fur coat in this house lemme tell ya ����

The amount of tea I drink the kitchen caddy can be predominantly tea bags. Ive composted them in both the dalek in the garden and my pallet bays on the allotment. Have never found any plastic mesh from them like I used to with other brands.

Yes it is a pain the foil has to go in the black bin.

Compostable products are very poorly labelled. Theres a big difference in whatll break down in the garden and what needs to go in the bin for industrial composting

If it is actually aluminium foil it can be balled up wit your kitchen foil and aluminium disposable roasting trays, foil dishes off the bottom of mince pies, etc., and put in the recycling bin. You can also wrap up the lead foil off wine bottles with the ali foil.

magicbastarder

you're not meant to put soiled aluminium in the green bin though.

Hocus Focus

No, unlike plastic packaging, which must be clean, it doesn't matter if there are traces of food on the ali foil as it will be heat treated, according to a waste management company spokesman I heard interviewed on Newstalk.
It needs to be scrunched up into a tight ball, though, so that it doesn't get mixed with paper.

magicbastarder

cheers, that's obviously changed, the mantra always used to be that it had to be clean, e.g.

So what exactly does “Clean, Dry and Loose” mean when it comes to recycling things in your home? Firstly, it means the obvious: everything in a recycling bin must be scrupulously clean.

That means no pizza residues on cardboard packaging, no cooked or uncooked food on aluminium

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/environment/consumer-guide-to-what-s-recyclable-and-what-isn-t-in-household-recycling-bins-1.3425410

greasepalm

You can use the tea bags for mini jiff pots for seed sowing.

Hocus Focus

magicbastarder wrote: »

cheers, that's obviously changed, the mantra always used to be that it had to be clean, e.g.


https://www.irishtimes.com/news/environment/consumer-guide-to-what-s-recyclable-and-what-isn-t-in-household-recycling-bins-1.3425410

Yes, the article does mention that the companies seem to have differnt standards.