Tea lovers, your brew from Tesco is becoming more environmentally friendly as the supermarket has announced it will alter the way its own brand teabags are made.

The supermarket is beginning the move to make all its teabags compostable via food caddies. This will mean that all tea bags sold by Tesco will be compostable by the summer, more than one billion bags a year!

For decades, teabag manufacturers have used a plastic, called polypropylene, to heat seal the bags in order to prevent the contents from spilling out in the box or once hot water has been poured over them.     

But now Tesco is to introduce plant-based tea bags which will allow shoppers to compost their tea bags through kerbside food waste collections.

Tesco teabags to become recyclable   

A new survey by Tesco revealed that shoppers are split on what to do with their used teabags with millions being disposed of incorrectly.  

Dorset Echo: Tesco teabags are soon to become recyclable Tesco teabags are soon to become recyclable (Image: Tesco) 

With some teabags being compostable and others not, shoppers are confused about which bin to put them in.  

With this in mind,  Tesco’s newly designed packets of tea in plant-based bags will be clearly labelled with information on the correct way to compost the tea bags in the food waste caddy.    

The new labelling will state: “We now make our tea bags out of plant-based material. Once used put your tea bag into your food waste bin. Our tea bags biodegrade into compost.”       

The first stage of the programme when all the supermarket’s herbal and speciality tea lines will switch to the new plant-based, compostable teabag format, is already underway.      

By April 2023 the rest of Tesco’s own-label teabags will have been replaced with a compostable plant-based material and by the summer, all of the billion teabags sold by Tesco – own-brand and branded – will be compostable through council food waste collections.   

Tesco Packaging Manager Adele Kearns said: “This is a huge move that will help clear up the confusion for millions of people on how to dispose of their teabags once used.  

“We hope that making all of our tea bags compostable with clear labelling helps our customers correctly do their bit for the environment.”