Tell companies you want them to make your tea plastic free. More companies have begun to package their tea in tea bags made from plastic and, unfortunately, tea is not the only thing that's ending up in your cup.
A December 2024 study by the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) found that tea bags release between 8 million and 1.2 billion microplastic and nanoplastic particles per millimeter of boiling water they're dunked in.
Even tea packaged in what appears to be a paper tea bag can fill your cup of tea with plastic fibers from the sealant used to glue the paper shut or from a coating on the string.
What can you do now?
Stop buying tea packaged in single-use tea bags.
Opt for loose leaf tea that you can either order in a tin or buy in bulk at your local grocery store, coop or natural foods market.
Brew your loose leaf tea in a ceramic, glass or stainless steel infuser or tea ball - these are cheap and easy to find online if you can’t pick one up at a home goods or kitchen store locally.
If you absolutely cannot bring yourself to switch to loose leaf tea, the three companies whose tea bag ingredients appear to not contain plastics are: Stash Teas, Numi Tea, and Yogi Tea.