Tea bags releasing microplastics - how to test your teabags for plastic

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#microplastic #teabags #plastic #microplasticteabags

With a simple test you can see if your tea bags are made of paper or plastic.

Paper reference

Plastic Teabags Release Billions of Microparticles and Nanoparticles into Tea
Laura M. Hernandez Elvis Genbo XuHans C. E. Larsson Rui Tahara Vimal B. MaisuriaNathalie Tufenkji*

[darnstewart]

The traditional teabag, sealed around on 4 sides, is paper with plastic on the inside. The entire inner surface on both sides of the bag is covered in a thin layer of porous plastic. When the teabag is cut to shape, it is also heat sealed around the outer edge. It isn't glued. So, all teabags have plastic. Loose leaf is the only way to get plastic free tea. Even then, if plastic has been used at some stage to contain the tea, you'll still have a small amount of plastic.

[GhibliHeroine]

Thank you for the explanation. When buying a tea brand, we can conduct a test... if it's plastic, we can avoid it. Nano plastics are currently the biggest environmental concern; we are ingesting them excessively.

[PF-givv]

I composed my teabags and noticed even the paper which has no plastic doesn't degrade very well so i stopped bothering, I rip open the bag of tea and throw the empty bag in the bin.

[kylerobinson]

Thank you for the information! Some of my tea definitely has the plastic bags. I’ll be getting rid of those ones.

[Demtah]

So less views, but thnx for upload! Eyes opened...

[kitn]

Thank you I was recently wondering about this, but your video just randomly came up & I didn't look it up! Very helpful thanks again

[lasheslashes]

Wow AWESOME information. Will take herbs out of bags heat hot water and strain herb . ❤Thanks 👏👏👏👏🙏

[trashtalk]

Please subscribe :) there will be new videos on microplastic and plastic pollution in general.

[ajitkapadia]

Very well explained and demonstrated. God bless you

[ApexHerbivore]

The pyramid ones - if it's TeaPigs brand "silk" style - if you read the box they're made from wood cellulose

[saltymiro]

The paper-plastic composite bags (1:08) are quite deceiving. They look almost like paper and many times rip like paper. But luckily the burn test reveals them.

[trashtalk]

Thank you all for watching and commenting!

[azreal]

Thank you for making this wonderful video.

[FrogmanAnime]

I just tore one of my Yorkshire teabags. And it tore like paper. I saw another video from another channel where they actually tested. Yorkshire teabags about 4 to 5 years ago and they failed. The plastics test seems they may have actually moved to making proper biodegradable teabags in the interim.

[mrmonroe]

thank you for spreading awareness of this. I wish more people knew

[PatriceOnPurpose]

tea drinker. Ditching all bags and doing all loose leaf from now on

[bruhda]

Never thought to do a burn test, thanks for the great idea

[sunshinerythym]

I don’t think the tear test works....I find Twinings tea bags tear really easily but they have plastic in them 😢

[ahmeto.]

Thank you very much. I learned that these paper tea bags can still contain small amounts of plastic for sealing, etc. Can you make a test for it? For example, we can dissolve the paper (cellulose) with a solvent. If it's fully made of cellulose, then it will be totally solved

[mayshomesteadchronicles]

Very informative! Thanks for sharing. Subscribed.