Tea bags

There are several ways to dispose of your used tea bags. Overall, to help prevent greenhouse gas emissions from tea bags rotting in landfill, then the best thing to do is place tea bags in your food or garden waste collection, if you have one in your area.

Can I compost used tea bags at home? 

Tea bags are mostly made from a natural plant fibre, but to prevent them falling apart when you pour boiling water on them, there is a small amount of plastic additive to stop this happening.

Many brands of tea have either moved, or are in the process of moving to a compostable plastic. This type of plastic generally needs an industrial process for it to completely breakdown.

So, while you can put tea bags into your home compost, you may find there is a thin 'skeleton' of the bags still visible. These can be sieved out and discarded or you could split the bags before placing the tea in your compost bin.