Tea and sympathy

Tea and sympathy

A little while ago I wrote a post about Red Rose Tea. I was suspicious of the fact that their tea bags don’t degrade in my compost, and I e-mailed them about it. Well, the good news is that they wrote me back. Here’s what they said:

 

Thank you for contacting Red Rose.

 The new Red Rose tea bag material is poly lactic acid, or PLA. The new tea bag is an organic polymer made from plants sources. The tea bags are composed of 100% renewable plant materials. The new Red Rose tea bag material is tested by independent laboratories and has been shown to be completely safe.

Sealing Red Rose like our previous Red Rose tea bags and other single chambered (or pillow) tea bags on the market, Red Rose uses a heat sealable material. However, unlike most other single chambered tea bags in the market Red Rose is now 100% compostable and made from 100% plant material.

We truly appreciate your loyalty to our brand and products. Should you have any questions in the future, please do not hesitate to contact us again.

Sincerely,
Red Rose Consumer Services

I like Red Rose Tea, and I like getting polite letters like this. Unfortunately, I am also cynical, and I still haven’t forgotten what they did to those chimpanzees all those years ago. So I did some research on poly lactic acid.

I found out that Poly lactic acid (PLA) is a biodegradable polymer made out of renewable resources like sugar, corn starch or cassava. It’s used for 3D printing, short term packaging, and even for medical uses (implants, sutures, drug capsules), among other things, and is classed as an environmentally friendly material. It will break down, but takes a long time to degrade, which is why it haunts my compost.

So there you have it: not toxic or harmful to the environment. I still like the old bags better, because they made better compost, but I’m back to drinking Red Rose.

But just to be clear: no more chimp tea parties, OK?

 

 

 

What is the half life of a Red Rose tea bag?

What is the half life of a Red Rose tea bag?

I turned my compost today, and there, right at the bottom, just as I suspected, is a massive clump of Red Rose tea bags. Again. Everything else has rotted away, but these little bags are completely unfazed by the workings of Nature. They just don’t seem to decompose. After a year in the compost! What are these things made of?

Now, I love Red Rose tea, and up until now I believed it to be an environmentally sound product, but enough is enough. I have dragged out my brown betty teapot, and I’m doing it the old fashioned way, and not with Red Rose. I don’t want to wind up like Jacob Marley, dragging long chains of tea bags after me as I wail my way into eternity.

In the meantime, I have written  to the Red Rose people (see below), to find out if their bags are part of a plan to carpet the world in Canadian tea. I’ll let you know what develops.

To Red Rose Customer Service
https://www.redrosetea.ca/contact-us

I am writing to ask why your tea bags do not decompose. Mine have been in the compost for nearly two years. I am beginning to suspect that I am drinking tea from bags made of plastic, so I am switching brands, and that’s a pity, because I love Red Rose tea.

I would be very happy to learn that Red Rose is an ecologically sound product, and that your company is concerned about our environment. Please contact me at the above address.