Tetley and Bettys & Taylors of Harrogate is to trial 100% biodegradable and polypropylene-free teabags in response to growing concern about the presence of plastic in the products.
Tetley, one of Tata Tea’s brands, will be running trials at its manufacturing plants within the next month, using 100% biodegradable teabag tissue that will also be free from polypropylene.
“We take our responsibilities to the environment seriously and are aware of the concerns over the small amounts of plastic in teabags,” said Peter Dries, director of customer and shopper marketing for Tetley.
Once a successful trial was concluded, Tetley would “review options to transfer our manufacturing to this new product as part of our commitment to source more sustainable and biodegradable packaging materials,” Dries added.
Bettys & Taylors, which owns tea companies including Yorkshire Tea, has recently begun a second round of tests on prototype plastic-free teabags, and is about to start some larger production trials.
Results from these are expected in June, and the brand has promised to share an update with customers.
“We’ve been looking into a plant-based, fully biodegradable teabag paper for a number of months now. We understand that many people feel uneasy about this and that as an ethically driven business, we should be taking action,” a spokesman for Bettys & Taylors said. “It’s important to us that the benefits of fully biodegradable, plant-based alternatives outweigh any other environmental impacts they could bring, such as heightening the carbon footprint of production or increasing waste.”
The news follows increasing interest in slashing plastic pollution. Self-employed gardener and environmentalist Mike Armitage made headlines in December when he started a petition against the use of polypropylene in teabags, which more than 232,000 people signed.
It is thought to be this petition that persuaded PG Tips’ parent company Unilever to make the switch to plastic-free teabags last month, when it promised to begin rolling out fully biodegradable, plant-based teabags.
“We are really excited that, starting from now, the PG Tips that you know and love will come from 100% plant-based material from a renewable source that’s fully biodegradable,” said Noel Clarke, vice president of refreshment at Unilever.
Armitage launched a further petition last week to encourage more tea manufactures to follow PG Tips’ lead. It currently has close to 104,000 signatures.
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