Tea Bag Material

Plastics and Packaging

The tea industry recognises the concerns of consumers in relation to packaging and plastic waste and we understand that the whole of the food & drink industry can, and should, play a role alongside other industries, in exploring opportunities to reduce, reuse, recover or recycle all types of packaging.
As a sector we are committed to sustainability, and we are playing our part by voluntarily moving towards the use of biodegradable tea bags. The majority of tea bags sold on the European market are based on plant fibres, e.g. from the East Asian banana species Abacá (Musa textilis). Some contain a very small amount of plastic, which enables the bags to be heat-sealed and stops them falling apart in hot water. If you include the tea, typically about 1% of a heat sealed teabag’s total weight is plastic (around 0.04g) – 95% is tea and the rest is natural plant fibres, which are biodegradable.

We support the European Commission’s objectives under the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) for harmonised waste collections and improved recycling infrastructure and the industry has worked hard to move away from the use of polypropylene (PP) tissue teabag and has switched to PLA tissue. PLA or polylactic acid, is a plastic made from plants, which can be composted under industrial conditions, so consumers can put these bags in their food and/or garden waste bins where municipal collection exists.

Innovations, such as the use of PLA, mean teabags can be placed in the biowaste, where they have proven to have a positive impact on the composting process and can help to produce more and cleaner compost. This creates a sustainable cycle because the raw materials are reused.[1]

[1] Wageningen research (2020)  https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/the-fate-of-compostable-plastic-products-in-a-full-scale-industri

Microplastics

Microplastics are small particles of plastic less than 5mm in size; nanoplastics are even smaller, ranging from 1 to 100 nanometres
(N.B. 1 nanometre equals one-millionth of a millimetre).

In 2016, EFSA identified the need to generate more data on their occurrence levels in food and on their potential effects on human health following exposure. Recently, international reports on microplastics and nanoplastics have been published, and every major food safety authority in the world has assessed the evidence on microplastics in food. Their conclusions are consistent and clear:

World Health Organization (WHO): Concluded that available data are insufficient to associate microplastic exposure with adverse health outcomes and highlighted the need for better quality control in published research. (2022)[2]

European Food Safety Authority (EFSA): Its 2025 literature review found that actual microplastic quantities from food contact materials are likely lower than many studies suggest, and current evidence does not support reliable exposure estimates. (October 2025)[3]

German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR): Said “according to the current state of knowledge, there is no reliable toxicological evidence of health risks from the ingestion of microplastics via food.” (August 2025)[4]

The UK Food Standards Agency (FSA): Has advised that, based on current information, they consider it is unlikely that the presence of these particles in food or drink would cause harm to consumers. (March 2025)[5]

Health Canada: Health Canada has concluded that “the current literature on the human health effects of microplastics is limited, although a concern for human health has not been identified at this time.” Canada has invested $2.1 million in further research while confirming no current health concern.
(January 2024)[6]

U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA): Said “current scientific evidence does not demonstrate that levels of microplastics or nanoplastics detected in foods pose a risk to human health.” (July 2024)[7]

[2] https://cdn.who.int/media/docs/default-source/wash-documents/microplastics-in-dw-information-sheet190822.pdf

[3] https://efsa.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.2903/sp.efsa.2025.EN-9733

[4] https://www.bfr.bund.de/mitteilung/bfr-bewertet-studie-zu-teebeuteln-und-mikroplastikpartikeln/

[5] https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2025-03-21/40294

[6] https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/evaluating-existing-substances/science-assessment-plastic-pollution.html

[7] https://www.fda.gov/food/environmental-contaminants-food/microplastics-and-nanoplastics-foods