Not all biodegradable teabags biodegrade, UCC study reveals

The UCC study showed that teabags made entirely of PLA, which were marketed as completely biodegradable, were found completely intact.

Tea is akin to water in Ireland, one of the top tea-drinking nations in the world. We brew throughout the day, building mounds of two or 12 spent teabags, and smile proudly as we unload them into our compost bins once we’ve had our fill, doing our bit for the environment, or so we thought.

However, putting certain teabags into the compost bin may not be the environmentally friendly thing to do, according to a study carried out by UCC.