Can you compost tea bags?
The con-postable debate continues and after months of research, we give you the facts on tea bag packaging.
Join us Transparency is one of our core values at Joe’s Tea so we’ve created this page to openly document our green journey. Follow us as we interrogate every aspect of our business with the goal of becoming as green as we can possibly be.
We will continue asking questions about all our business practices, products and materials, and we’ll strive to make the best decisions for the planet and for you, our customers.
We will always be happy to answer any questions that you have about any of our products, materials or business practices. Email us at hello@joesteacompany.com if you can’t find the answer to a question on this page.
We’re passionate about organic farming and have only ever traded 100% organic teas and herbal infusions. Why are we so passionate about it? Because organic farming is the only way to ensure that our planet is properly looked after through agriculture for the present and the future. Our ingredients have never even had a whiff of chemicals (fertilisers, pesticides, insecticides, herbicides) and that keeps the ecosystems around the teas, herbs and spices as natural and happy as possible.
Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) have had their DNA modified by humans through a process of genetic engineering. The dangers and risks of mass GMO farming to the planet is well documented and many countries have banned or restricted their use as a result. With no standardised regulations on the labelling of GMOs in packaging and ingredients means that it’s often difficult or impossible to know where they hide. We guarantee that none of our ingredients or packaging contain any GMOs.
For any business, packaging, waste and compostability vs costs and resources means decisions, and these decisions aren’t always easy to make. Our pyramid bags, strings and tags are recyclable, our boxes are made from FSC recyclable board but not compostable inks, and our inner plastic bags and our foil bags for foodservice are not recyclable. See below for how we’re working towards making our packaging fully compostable by 2021.
2021 will see us switching to fully compostable inner packaging in our retail products by using Natureflex, a very clever plant based alternative to plastic. We don’t believe in wasting any materials so we have some stock to use up but we’ll keep you updated as to when you can see this on a shelf near you.
We already use FSC (Forest Stewardship Council Certification) cardboard for most of our packaging and we’re working towards this being 100%. We will also start to use vegetable inks across all our retail packaging. This will mean that our retail outer packaging will be fully compostable.
We are working closely with the top global pyramid bag material manufacturers for a compostable version and believe there will be an option available late 2020. In the meantime, we will change our strings from polyester to compostable cotton string. The tags are a little more complicated because they need to be water resistant, we are reviewing alternative options and we’ll let you know here as soon as we have a solution.
Lee Holdstock – Soil Association
The con-postable debate continues and after months of research, we give you the facts on tea bag packaging.
The best whole leaf teas and herbal infusions meet good-to-go pyramid tea bags, tastebud brilliant flavour and proper London passion.