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Sustainable Tea Packaging

At Dragonfly, we're striving for sustainability. Learn about plastic free tea bags, our tea packaging materials, and how best to dispose of them.

Our Tea Packaging

Tea packaging requires careful thought. For each tea, we must decide the best way to preserve its freshness and ensure the tea in your cup remains the tea we so carefully selected.

At Dragonfly, sustainability is just as important a consideration. We use biodegradable and recyclable materials wherever we can and continue to seek alternatives for where we can’t (yet!).

And we know you care too! We’re often asked about eco-friendly packaging. Plastic-free tea bags vs plant-based-plastic? Compostable or biodegradable tea bags? Is our tea packaging recyclable?

Read on to find out!

STRING & TAG TEA BAGS 20s

Our core organic string & tag range: card boxes containing 20 tea envelopes

String & tag tea bags

* Materials: Folded and cotton-stitched tea bag paper made from plant-based abaca, wood pulp and plant cellulose fibres. 100% organic, biodegradable, non-GMO cotton string. Paper tag.

* Disposal: These biodegradable tea bags are certified
home-compostable. Add them to your food waste bin or to your normal household bin. Put the tag into your household paper recycling.

Envelopes

* Materials: Paper with a thin barrier coating containing trace amounts of BPA and PVC plastic.

* Disposal: Recycle with your normal paper.

Box

* Material: Card.

* Disposal: Recycle with your normal paper.

Dragonfly Tea String & Tag Moroccan Mint Green Tea showing the Box, Envelope, Tea Bag, String and Tag on a Grey Background.

PILLOW TEA BAGS 40s

Larger packs of organic rooibos and organic rooibos blends.

Tea bags

* Materials: Tea bag paper made from plant-based abaca, wood pulp and plant cellulose fibres, sealed with PLA, a sustainable plant-based biopolymer free from petrochemical plastics.

* Disposal: These biodegradable tea bags are suitable for industrial composting (see more information on different types of composting below). Add them to your food waste bin to be composted by your local council or to your normal household bin.

Inner pouch

* Materials: Foil containing plastic.

* Disposal: Recycle with flexible plastic packaging at most large supermarkets.

Box

* Material: Card.

* Disposal: Recycle with your normal paper.

Tea Packaging layout of the Dragonfly Organic Rooibos Tea range on a Grey Marble Effect Background. Box of Organic Earl Grey Rooibos Tea, with the Inner Pouch and Tea Bag on display.

LARGE LEAF PYRAMIDS 12s

Boxes of 12 biodegradable large leaf tea pyramids.

Tea bags

* Materials: The pyramid and string are made from PLA. The tag is paper with a thin layer of PLA.

* Disposal: These pyramids, including string and tag, are biodegradable and are suitable for industrial composting. Simply add them to your food waste bin for composting by your local council or to your normal household bin.

Inner pouch

* Materials: This wood-pulp-based material looks like regular plastic, but it is fully biodegradable.

* Disposal: This pouch is biodegradable and certified home-compostable. Add it to your food waste bin or to your normal household bin.

Box

* Material: Card.

* Disposal: Recycle with your normal paper.

Tea Packaging layout of the Dragonfly Eastern Beauty Tea. Showing the Plant-based Plastic-free Pyramid Tea Bag, the Biodegradale Inner Pouch and the Recyclable Cardboard Box.

LOOSE LEAF TEA

Our classic tins of fine loose leaf tea.

Tea leaves

* Materials: Tea leaves!

* Disposal: Add these to your food waste bin for either home or industrial composting, or to your normal household bin.

Inner pouch

* Materials: Foil

* Disposal: Not currently recyclable. Please dispose of these in your general household bin.

Tin

* Material: Tin plate.

* Disposal: Household metal recycling.

Dragonfly Tea Tin Packaging Layout on a Grey Marble Effect Background. Loose Leaf Bai Mudan White Tea Leaves, the Inner Pouch and Outer Tin.
Walled Garden Dragonfly Tea Mug with Tea Tag in Grass.

Do Dragonfly tea bags contain plastic?

In our tea range we have three different types of tea bag. Our string & tag tea bags are plastic-free and staple-free. They are not heat-sealed but rather folded and stitched with an organic cotton string. Our pillow tea bags are made from 100% plant-based materials and contain no plastics derived from petrochemicals. The paper is made from cellulose (wood pulp) and is heat-sealed with fibres derived from corn starch (rather than polypropylene plastic). Lastly, our large leaf pyramid tea bags are made from PLA, a renewable and sustainable plant-based biopolymer mesh that contains no plastic derived from petrochemicals.

Are Dragonfly tea bags compostable?

Yes! Our string & tag folded tea bags are certified home compostable. Our pillow and pyramid tea bags are also compostable however we don't recommend that you compost them at home - your home compost might not provide the right level of heat, pressure and microorganisms to ensure they fully break down. Instead, add them to your food waste bin or household bin for your local authority to collect for industrial composting. If you want to add your used tea leaves to your home compost then open the tea bag and add them to your compost pile, ensuring the emptied teabags are added to your food waste bin for collection.

Can I recycle my Dragonfly tea packaging?

All our outer boxes and envelopes are recyclable with your household paper, and so are the tags on our string & tag tea bags. The inner pouches that contain our pillow tea bags are recyclable as plastic at large supermarkets, whereas our pyramid pouches are compostable along with the pyramid bag itself and its string and tag. The pouch we use for our loose leaf teas are not currently recyclable or compostable, and will need to be disposed of in your general household bin. We hope to move to a better solution very soon!

Large Leaf Pyramids on Shelving.
Teapot and Cup sat on a Wooden Bench.

Explore our full tea range here.

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