May 17, 2022

Taylors of Harrogate- Plastics in Tea bags

All these Yorkshire Tea packs now contain plant-based tea bags!

That’s every box of regular Yorkshire Tea, Yorkshire Gold, Yorkshire Tea Decaf and Yorkshire Tea for Hard Water we make from now on.

We’re replacing the oil-based plastic in our tea bags with a plant-based plastic called PLA

There’ll still be some of our old tea bags on the shelves, but you can double check if yours are plant-based by looking at the best before date using the info in the table below.

You can pop the used plant-based tea bags in kerbside food waste and garden waste bins to go off to the local council for industrial composting. There’s more info below in the FAQs.

We’ve still got lots more to do, and tea bags aren’t the only thing that’s changing. All our products are now carbon neutral, and what we want next is for all our packaging to be “circular” – which means made from renewable, plant-based or recycled materials, and reusable, recyclable or compostable after use

Box size	Plant based?	Look for this Best Before date
40	✓ Since February 2021	July 2022 or later
80	✓ Since June 2021	November 2022 or later
160	✓ Since March 2021	August 2022 or later
210	✓ Since April 2021	September 2022 or later
240	✓ Since March 2020	August 2021 or later

What does "plant-based" means?

We’re replacing the oil-based plastic that seals our tea bags with a plant-based plastic called polylactic acid, or PLA.

PLA is a newer form of plastic, made from plants (like cornstarch) instead of fossil fuels, which can be industrially composted by local councils. It’s the material that most of the UK tea industry is switching to or has already switched to.

It’s better for the environment than oil-based plastic – as long as it goes in the right bin.

You might’ve seen PLA teabags called “biodegradable”, “plastic free” or “home compostable”. You can read a bit more about why we don’t use those terms below.

Are they plastic free?

PLA tea bags are sometimes called“plastic free”, but we’ve never used that label and WRAP, the people behind the UK Plastics Pact, also advise against it because plant-based plastics are still plastics.

However, PLA is made from renewable materials instead of fossil fuels and it can be industrially composted instead of going to landfill or incineration. If it’s disposed of in the right way, then it will completely break down into its natural components

Will our Tea bags be plant-based now?

The boxes above cover the majority of what we make, which is why they were first on the list. Once we get to smaller products, things get more fiddly, because they often involve their own separate machines, production line, materials and suppliers. So what we've learned switching all of our main Yorkshire Tea box lines (which have a lot in common) doesn't always apply - instead, each product presents its own unique challenge to switch over to plant-based. It means that tea bags we export, our specialty brews (Biscuit Brew, Toast & Jam Brew, Bedtime Brew) and some of our larger catering packs will be switched later.

That’s not all we have to change. This is really just the start of a ton of stuff we’ve got to fix, like getting rid of the plastic wrap from our boxes, making our loose leaf packaging and catering-sized bags recyclable, and quite a lot of other tea (and coffee) packaging that our company, Taylors of Harrogate, makes.

The long term aim is for all our packaging to become "circular" – which means made from renewable, plant-based or recycled materials, and reusable, recyclable or compostable after use

Source - Progress on our plant-based tea bags | Taylors (taylorsimpact.com)

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