Plastic Free Tea Bags: Which Brands Are Really Plastic Free?

Plastic free tea bags? Yes, you heard that right…

Your cup of tea might contain 11 billion microplastic particles and this is due to the way the tea bag is engineered.

According to a 2019 Canadian study at McGill University published in the Environmental Science & Technology Journal, steeping a plastic tea bag at a brewing temperature of 95°C releases around 11.6 billion microplastics and 3.1 billion nanoplastics into a single cup. Microplastics are tiny pieces of plastic between 100 nanometres and 5 millimeters in size. Compared to salt, for example, which has been also found to contain plastic, each cup contains thousands of times the greater mass of plastic, at 16 micrograms per cup.

Health Risks Posed by Microplastics in Tea Bags

Researchers are studying the health risks posed by ingesting microplastics from tea bags and several studies are being published on this topic. A 2023 study in the Journal of Environmental Science and Research Pollution International investigated 45 teabag samples of different Persian and German brands. The results were an abundance of microplastics and phthalates.  Another study published in 2023 in the International Journey of Surgery cites a wide variety of health conditions, including endocrine disruption, reproductive toxicity, cancer risk, problems with metabolism and nutrition, and interference with neurodevelopment,  as concerns related to microplastic exposure, particularly to those heated during processing, like tea bags used in million cups of tea over a lifetime.

How are Tea Bags Manufactured?

Let’s go one step back and understand how a tea bag is made and why it might contain plastic:

Are you shocked? Yes, we were too. We couldn’t believe that incorporating plastic in tea bags wasn’t tested for migration before engineering them, without even mentioning the fact that they are of course not biodegradable and compostable, which leads to plastic pollution.

So, Why Do Tea Bags Contain Plastic?

Many traditional tea bags contain plastic as this is used to heat seal the filter bag and to prevent it from falling apart. It can be:

• inside the paper filter bags and/or
• in the glue used to heat seal the bags, mostly in the form of polypropylene (PP).

Both of these materials can migrate into hot water. Most tea manufacturers that used to use plastic in the filter bags are now transitioning to biodegradable PLA polylactic acid based material (see the explanation below).

List of Plastic Free Tea Bags, and Tea Bags Using Plastic by Brand

Here is a 2024 updated guide to some of the most available and favorite plastic free tea brands in the USA / Canada, the UK, Australia, and other English-speaking countries.

This post contains affiliate links, which means we may receive a small commission, at no cost to you, if you make a purchase through a link. This helps us continue the very hard work we put into researching products and solutions. It took us weeks to compile this overview.

Important Disclaimer: While we make our best efforts to scout completely plastic-free tea bags around the world, we are also aware that we have to rely on the information provided to us by tea companies via their website / FAQ section  (we link to the source) or upon our direct request. We disclose their answers and list the sustainable tea brands in alphabetical order to make it easier for you to find them.

Please note: we also list some varieties made with plastic as we received many questions about some specific product ranges.

1) Barry’s Tea

Barry’s Tea states that after significant investment in the redesign and development of their machinery, 100% of the black tea range, produced in Cork and available in shops is biodegradable. Since the end of September 2021 all of the Fruit, Herbal, and Green teas are now available in biodegradable tea bags. According to the manufacturer, you can put the tea bags in your food waste bin at home for industrial composting. The manufacturer confirmed that their tea bags have a special blend of biodegradable PLA thermoplastic fibers, abaca, and selected cellulosic fibers.

Plant-based Bioplastics / PLA: Yes

Fossil-fuel Plasticizers: No 

Source: website’s sustainability page and direct communication.

Shop Barry’s Tea on Amazon: USA – Canada – UK – Australia

2) Bromley:

Response by the manufacturer: “Our teabag paper is made from wood pulp. They are heat sealed together without using glue. They do not contain any plastics of any kind and are totally compostable.”

Source: e-mail.

Plant-based Bioplastics / PLA: No

Fossil-fuel Plasticizers: No 

Shop the Bromley tea range free of plastic at Amazon: USA – Canada

3) Bushells

Their tea bag paper is made from manila hemp, cellulose and thermoplastic fibers, as such they are not compostable or recyclable.

Source: e-mail. The company didn’t reply to our request for an update.

Plant-based Bioplastics / PLA: Yes

Fossil-fuel Plasticizers: Yes

4) Celestial Seasonings

Their pillow tea bags (i.e. tea bags without strings, tags, staples, or foil envelopes) have food-grade polypropylene plastic fibers, are manufactured through a totally chlorine-free (TCF) whitening process, meaning that no dioxin is released into the environment. Plus, they never contain starch or gluten.

On the other hand, their TeaWell products, their food-service style products, and their certified organic Canadian teas use tea bag paper that does not contain any plastic fibers and has a string, tag, staple, and individual wrapper.

Information Source: response via Facebook messenger.

Plant-based Bioplastics / PLA: n.a.

Fossil-fuel Plasticizers: Yes

Shop Celestial Seasonings tea on Amazon: USA – Canada – UK – Australia

Related: 13 Best Plastic-free Electric Kettles for a Heathy Cup

5) Dilmah

The tagless tea bags are made from biodegradable PLA material  and are also called “pot bags”.

Their pyramid style Exceptional Tea Selection range are also made with a plastic-free PLA material and are biodegradable.

Their standard teabags (non-pyramid bags that have a string, a tag, and often an envelope) i.e. Dilmah Premium Tea Selection, Ceylon Green Tea and Infusions are composed mostly of natural cellulose fibers which contain no plastic coating such as epichlorohydrin and do not use chemical paper bleaching. Currently, these tagless teabags which do not use a staple or string to seal their tea bag contain 2% of polypropylene fibers used only for the heat seal that joins the bag together. These polypropylene fibers are a food-safe material that does not leech into water (like nylon or PET). For environmental reasons, however, some choose to use loose leaf tea or organic teabags.

Information Source: website and their sustainability report (which breaks down the packaging and material information of all tea formats in their product portfolio).

Plant-based Bioplastics / PLA: Yes

Fossil-fuel Plasticizers: Yes

Shop the Dilmah range at Amazon: USA – Canada – UK – Australia

6) Harney & Sons

From the manufacturer: “Our paper tea bags are compostable, oxygen bleached with a method that does not produce dioxins, there is no epichlorohydrin, PET, or PLA in our paper tea bags. We offer a variety of certified organic teas in them. The tea bags are fastened with a knot in the string, there is no glue or staple on the tea bag, and they are a great choice if you have any concerns about plastics.”

About their sachet fabric tea bags: “We are excited to announce that we started producing sachet fabric from compostable sugarcane in 2021, and have now achieved 90% sugarcane material use on our product lines. We have been using the new material in production alongside our BPA free food grade nylon. Please note that the new material is industrial compostable and any nanoparticles created during steeping are digested by the body. The sugarcane does not produce any increase in the glycemic content of our teas.”

Information Source: e-mail and website blog.

Plant-based Bioplastics / PLA: Yes.

Fossil-fuel Plasticizers: Yes

Shop the Harney & Sons range at Amazon: USA – Canada – UK – Australia

7) Higher Living Organic Tea Australia

Higher Living has created compostable, plastic-free tea bags made out of unbleached paper with an organic cotton string stitched into the paper to form the bag, with no plastic. The envelopes and the boxes are recyclable.

Information Source: response via e-mail

Plant-based Bioplastics / PLA: No

Fossil-fuel Plasticizers: No

Shop the Higher Living range on Amazon: Australia

8) Ito En

Oi Ocha Green Tea Tea Bags: Just paper, no glue.

Oi Ocha Hoji Tea Bags: Just paper, no glue.

Matcha Green Tea Traditional: BPA-free PET or nylon mesh that meets FDA regulatory requirements for hot beverage contact applications. And food grade glue is used to attach teabag and string.

Information Source: response via e-mail.

Plant-based Bioplastics / PLA: Yes, in some of their products

Fossil-fuel Plasticizers: Yes, in some of their products

Shop Ito En on Amazon: USA – Canada – UK – Australia

Related: Microplastics in Food: The Latest Research.

9) Lidl UK – Deluxe Tea

We enquired via email with Lidl Great Britain about their Deluxe Earl Grey tea bags and they replied after verifying with the supplier saying that they offer biodegradable tea bags made of cellulose fibers (from softwood pulp & abaca) + polylactic acid (PLA).

Information Source: response via e-mail.

Plant-based Bioplastics / PLA: Yes

Fossil-fuel Plasticizers: No

10) Lidl USA

We enquired via email about the following product ranges: The Organic Tea Range / The Irish Breakfast Tea / The Preferred Selection Range. They replied that according to their supplier, the tea bags are made with filter paper and comprise a blend of cellulose fibers (wood pulp), Abaca, and a very small amount of acrylic binder (to prevent microwave bursting) and PAE (Poly-Amide-Epichlorohydrin) as a wet strength plastic resin (so the paper doesn’t fall apart in water).

Information Source: response via e-mail.

Plant-based Bioplastics / PLA: Yes

Fossil-fuel Plasticizers: Yes

11) Lipton

Their Quality Black and Intense Quality Black Tea traditional tea bags are made from Manilla hemp and cellulose fibers. They are compostable tea bags, but not recyclable. Please note: we received an email in July 2022 from one of our readers who stated receiving a different answer from the manufacturer and that their tea bags are lined with polyethylene. This shows a lack of transparency and we couldn’t find any source of information on their website apart from the Cold Brew Tea Bags.

Lipton Green Decaf, Chai and Herbal traditional tea bags are made from manilla hemp, cellulose and thermoplastic fibers. They are not compostable or recyclable.

Lipton Cold Brew Tea Bags are made of plant-based biodegradable PLA material.

• Shop the Lipton Cold Brew tea range: USA – Canada  – Australia

Information Source: response via e-mail.

Plant-based Bioplastics / PLA: Yes

Fossil-fuel Plasticizers: Yes

Shop this Lipton range on Amazon: USA – Canada – UK – Australia

12) Lyons

The company that makes tea bags in the UK, has phased out plastics entirely from their tea range and has transitioned to biodegradable and compostable plant-based tea bags.

The Lyons biodegradable teabags are now all plant-based and made of a blend of natural fibers, including abaca, cellulose fibers, and a small amount of plastic fibers. They do not use PLA in their teabags. The thermoplastic fibers used in their teabags are necessary to seal the tea bag and prevent the tea leaves from escaping. However, they say that the amount used is minimal, making up less than 5% of the teabag paper. In their words: “Our commitment to sustainability is paramount, and we are constantly seeking ways to minimize our impact on the environment. Our biodegradable teabags are designed to break down naturally in composting conditions, leaving no harmful residues. We have also eliminated the use of staples and glue in our teabags to make them even more eco-friendly.”

Information Source: response via e-mail and their website.

Plant-based Bioplastics / PLA: No

Fossil-fuel Plasticizers: Yes

Shop the Lyons range on Amazon: USA – Canada – UK

13) Madame Flavour Australia

Madama Flavour is an Australian family tea business with French and Kiwi roots.

The pyramid bags are made from Soilon and have a silky finish, no staple. Soilon is a PLA corn-starch derived material sourced from Japan and is fully biodegradable according to their statement. The tags are attached to the pyramid material by ultrasonic heat, with no glue involved. Source: Madame Flavour website.

Information Source: response via e-mail and their website.

Plant-based Bioplastics / PLA: Yes

Fossil-fuel Plasticizers: No 

14) Madura Australia

In July 2021 they transitioned to 100% natural plant-based PLA tea bag paper and tea bag componentry. The fully sustainable and renewable fibres are made from a selected blend of high-quality Manila hemp, cellulose and biopolymer made from natural plant material. The transition occurred on across all 50’s & 100’s tea bag packets, as well as 20’s & 80’s enveloped tea bag packets.

The Leaf Infuser (pyramid) teabags have for a long time been made exclusively from 100% natural plant-based PLA tea bag paper, and not only do they not emit plastic microparticles or nanoparticles, and they are compostable. They do however recommend that you place these teabags out in your green bin as they break down best under commercial waste conditions.

Information Source: FAQs on their website.

Plant-based Bioplastics / PLA: Yes

Fossil-fuel Plasticizers: No 

Shop the Madura range on Amazon: Australia

15) Nature’s Cuppa Organic Tea

The manufacturer – EatRite Australasia Pty Ltd – who is based in Australia responded that their tea bags are made with unbleached paper (made from a tree grown especially for tea bag paper mainly in the northern part of Europe), and no polymers, nor plasticizers. Nature’s Cuppa is also certified organic by the National Association of Sustainable Agriculture Australia (NASAA) and NOP (USDA) Regulation certified by Control Union Certification, which wouldn’t be achievable if they included plastic according to the manufacturer. The tea bags are closed with a metal staple.

Information Source: response via e-mail.

Plant-based Bioplastics / PLA: No

Fossil-fuel Plasticizers: No 

Shop Nature’s Cuppa on Amazon: USA – Australia

16) Nerada Australia

Their filter paper is manufactured using a blend of high-quality manila hemp, which contains a tiny percentage (less than 2%) of food-grade synthetic fibers. Source: blog post on their website.

Information Source: response via e-mail.

Plant-based Bioplastics / PLA: Yes

Fossil-fuel Plasticizers: Yes

Shop the Nerada tea range on Amazon: Australia

17) Pukka

Pukka is famous for their herbal tea. Their tea bag paper is made of a special blend of natural abaca (a type of banana), wood pulps, and plant cellulose fibers. They use a simple stitch of organic cotton and a unique folding process. They don’t need to use polypropylene to hold their  Pukka herbs tea bags together and these are therefore free from plastic and home compostable (they are even applying for an independent certification). They were the first company to ever use 100% organic, non-GMO cotton tea bag strings to hold the teabags together without the need for a metal staple or polypropylene.

Information Source: response via e-mail and their website. Find out more here.

Plant-based Bioplastics / PLA: No

Fossil-fuel Plasticizers: No 

Shop the Pukka tea range on Amazon: USA – Canada – UK – Australia

18) Qi Tea Australia and New Zealand:

Qi tea bags are plastic-free and biodegradable. They try to keep all their packaging as completely plastic free as possible so it’s 100% recyclable and use veggie inks so it’s also compostable. The only part that has a little plastic is the envelope wrapper because it helps keep it fresher longer, but they are working on an alternative substrate for that. Qi Teas are independently certified organic by the international accreditation body Ecocert, as well as the Soil Association in the UK. The bags are not bleached and are free from glue and aluminum staples.

Information Source: response via e-mail and their website.

Plant-based Bioplastics / PLA: No

Fossil-fuel Plasticizers: No 

Shop Qi Tea on Amazon: UK – Australia

19) Stash Tea  

The filter paper used for Stash Tea bags is made from 100% cellulose fibers (wood). Stash tea bag filter paper is machine folded and pressed, therefore no glue is needed or used. Their teabags are completely compostable and do not contain any plastic. The tea producer states that test results conclude that chlorine dioxide is not present in their tea bag filter paper. The filter paper is not coated with the compound epichlorohydrin, and does not contain any free epichlorohydrin.

Information Source: via their website.

Plant-based Bioplastics / PLA: No

Fossil-fuel Plasticizers: No

Shop Stash Tea on Amazon: USA – Canada

20) Teapigs 

Teapigs tea bags (tea temples) are made from corn starch and paper. They break down in industrial composting within 12 weeks. The inner bag looks like plastic, but is made from wood pulp and can be home composted. The cardboard is FSC certified paper board and printed with vegetable ink, therefore it is recyclable.

Information Source: via their website.

Plant-based Bioplastics / PLA: Yes

Fossil-fuel Plasticizers: No 

Shop Teapigs on Amazon: USA – Canada – UK – Australia

21) Tetley

We received a response from Tetley Tea Australia.

String and Tag tea bags: used in Tetley Black and Tetley Green Tea (excluding All Rounder): “Our string and tag bags are made from a natural fiber woven paper – (mostly Abaca fiber and short wood fibers). Although not specifically tested by us for biodegradability / compostability, used tea bags can be home composted, but we would recommend removing the aluminum staple if present. Our Tea Bags utilizes a staple to hold it together as it is made from an aluminum alloy which is used primarily in food production due to its absence of toxicity. Using a staple instead of adhesive also allows us to not have any plastic in the bag composition.

Tetley Round Tagless tea bags – used in Tetley All Rounder: “Our All Rounder tagless tea bags are comprised primarily (75%) from cellulose fibers (plant matter), with the remaining 25% made from food safe plastic. This plastic is important for heat-sealing the teabags, so the tea does not escape in your cuppa. Although compostable, small pieces of plastic mesh may remain. Our goal is to eliminate the plastic content and we have been working with the top global tissue suppliers to identify a workable solution. Recent trials have been encouraging, but there is still work to do to ensure the tissue can meet the quality standards we and our consumers expect for our products. We are confident that a workable and reliable solution is possible and we are working as hard as we can to achieve this.”

Information Source: response via e-mail, and the sustainability report on their website.

Plant-based Bioplastics / PLA: Yes, in some product ranges

Fossil-fuel Plasticizers: Yes

Shop the Tetley Black and Tetley Green Tea on Amazon: USA – Canada – UK – Australia

22) Twinings

We found this information on their Australian website. We cannot guarantee that this is true for the rest of the world but at least they are making progress:  “We have changed over our tea paper on all Australian string & tag tea bag formats, to plant-based and biodegradable materials. These products will be finding their way to our shelves shortly and will replace our previous tea bag material. We are now in the process of certifying these as home compostable in Australia & New Zealand. We have already had approval in Europe, that the tea bags are industrially compostable to EN 13432 certification, which means they can be put into the green council bins, but we’re going one step further here.

“The material used in our pyramid Infuser tea bags is PLA, which is made from plant starch and selected for its environmentally sustainable nature; our new Cold In’fuse products are part of this range.”

Information Source: response via Facebook messenger and their websites.

Plant-based Bioplastics / PLA: Yes

Fossil-fuel Plasticizers: No

Shop the Twinings tea range on Amazon: USA – Canada – UK – Australia

23) Vahdam

We received this response via e-mail: “Please note that the tea bags you currently received are made of food-grade nylon mesh. We had adopted these to be able to deliver garden fresh teas to our consumers across ~138 counties. However, our R&D and packaging team has been toiling incessantly to come up with more sustainable packaging. We are happy to share with you that we have started shipping out our new plant-based teabags and you should be able to order them by the end of 2022, or mid-2023 depending on the geography.”

Information Source: response e-mail

Plant-based Bioplastics / PLA: Yes

Fossil-fuel Plasticizers: Yes

What is PLA Plastic or Polylactic Acid?

PLA stands for poly-lactic acid and it is a vegetable-based biodegradable plastic material, that commonly uses cornstarch, cassava sugar cane as raw material, but remember much of the corn supply is genetically modified! The good news is that it is not fossil based (no petroleum based).

Are Plant Based Plastic (PLA) Tea Bags Compostable?

Of course, 100% paper bags can be composted in your backyard compost or placed in your FOGO (Food Organics and Garden Organics) bin. However, PLA tea bags will not necessarily biodegrade in your backyard compost, unless you live in the tropics with a very hot and humid climate. If your climate is not warm enough, it will be harder for PLA to break down within the time frame specified by global ‘Compostable’ labeling standards. However, PLA can fully break down in industrial and municipal composting facilities, in certain controlled environments (i.e. controlled humidity and temperature), of which there are only a few in Australia. Always ask your Council if tea bags are accepted in your FOGO bin. We have read that some Councils don’t accept them for fear of contamination with plastic tea bags.

Further Tip: Try to Tear Your Tea Bag!

Usually, pyramid tea bags are made of plastic. If you try to tear them, you can easily understand if this is the case or not. If the bag doesn’t tear at all, it means it is nylon or propylene, and this is particularly true for pyramid tea bags containing plastic. This video shows this clearly.

Conclusion: Choose Loose Leaf Tea if Possible!

If you are looking for tea bags without plastic, you need to consider each brand and each product line, hence why we hope that our guide to eco-friendly tea bags was useful to enjoy every cup of tea.

For your health and the environment, of course, the best way to drink tea free of microplastic as a regular tea drinker is to opt for loose leaf tea and we love to drink our Chai Latte with our reusable telescopic straws. You can buy disposable tea filter bags or reusable tea strainers made of stainless steel.

T2, Nerada, Harney & Sons nearly every tea brand offers loose tea. The list of loose tea brands is endless!

Enjoy your tea!

Do you have any question or comment?

Or maybe would you like to give us some more information about other tea brands?

Just write in the section below or email info@implasticfree.com

Browse the Food & Drinks section of our eco-brands directory to find products in plastic-free packaging.

This article has been last updated early 2024.

Related Posts

The 17 Best Plastic Free Coffee Makers: Enjoy Delicious, Non-Toxic Coffee Every Morning

Microplastics in Food: The Latest Research

5 Tips for Plastic-Free July