How are the veggies coming along?

[nepia]

My decaff PG Tips don't say plastic-free on the box and I'm sure they would if that was the case:  check before you buy!

[sime42]

My decaff PG Tips don't say plastic-free on the box and I'm sure they would if that was the case:  check before you buy!

It's a bit confusing but I think all their teabags across the range are now fully biodegradable, but they haven't yet got around to updating all the information on their packaging. That's how I read this anyway. I hope so as we generally drink Earl Grey and Red Bush tea. Only one way to be sure I guess ............ I'll get back to you in a year once I've sorted the next batch of compost!

Biodegradable tea bags

WWW.PGTIPS.CO.UK

---

Here’s a fact! Around nine billion PG tips tea bags are enjoyed by cuppa lovers every year in the UK. That’s a lot of tea and tea bags. And we take that super seriously. Make no mistake, we're

[nepia]

Very good; I'll stop pulling my bags apart and concentrate on the wife's!

 

Beware marketing though:  'biodegradable' isn't the same as 'compostable' and that's not the same as 'home compostable'.

 

Biodegradable means that if left long enough the bag will eventually break down.  Compostable means that the bag will compost at industrial composting temperatures, i.e. ~60C and above, not in your average home compost heap.

So don't be surprised if a biodegradable teabag takes 5 years to achieve it.

Some of the fossil fuel plastic previously used has been replaced by plant plastic in the form of PLA - Poly Lactic Acid.

 

I hope I'm right there; my info comes from a very clued up vegetarian daughter and my own research when seeking plastic-free teabags some months ago.

[openspaceman]

1 hour ago, nepia said:

Saddo that I am I rip the bags open, spill the contents into the kitchen compost bin and bin the empties.  You can get plastic-free teabags but they cost.  Also I drink decaff and paying for plastic-free decaff teabags is too painful.

I resurrected a plastic composter 2 years ago and found those plastic remains in the compost that was in there. We had been putting teabags in the food waste bin that  the council sends to a local anaerobic digestion plant. Once I realised the agitation just reduced the size of the plastic particles before discharge to the land I put tea bags in the black bin for incineration or dried and burned them.

 

Since lockdown and my feeble attempts to grow vegetables I have been using a tea diffuser and loose tea again plus all our veg waste goes in the composter. I very seldom need to  put out meat waste for the bin men to collect now and tend to burn bones, after the dog has had a go, and eggshells when the fire is going. Chicken carcases are about the only thing that I put out for collection now. At the end of the month when we have no stove burning I will be using the food caddy again.

 

Coffee bags get dried and burned.

[nepia]

11 hours ago, openspaceman said:

I resurrected a plastic composter 2 years ago and found those plastic remains in the compost that was in there. We had been putting teabags in the food waste bin that  the council sends to a local anaerobic digestion plant. Once I realised the agitation just reduced the size of the plastic particles before discharge to the land I put tea bags in the black bin for incineration or dried and burned them.

Teabag plastic - the next scandal!

 

Our LA distinguishes between landfill waste and household waste.  Household waste - which is getting our emptied teabags - is incinerated for heat/power generation and I'm happy with that.

[nepia]

11 hours ago, openspaceman said:

Since lockdown and my feeble attempts to grow vegetables I have been using a tea diffuser and loose tea again plus all our veg waste goes in the composter. I very seldom need to  put out meat waste for the bin men to collect now and tend to burn bones, after the dog has had a go, and eggshells when the fire is going. Chicken carcases are about the only thing that I put out for collection now. At the end of the month when we have no stove burning I will be using the food caddy again.

 

Coffee bags get dried and burned.

Our previous LA collected food waste, our new one doesn't but the quantity of food waste going in the bin for incineration is also minimal - meat-based plus avocados cos they don't rot!  Everything else goes in the plastic bins up the garden.

 

I'm waxing lyrical about plastics in teabags... I think my life has been less than useful!  😂

[gary112]

Finally got round to the veg patch today,4 rows of Charlotte potatoes and 3 rows of beetroot.Got some seeds going in the greenhouse aswell,lettuce,broccoli,leeks and starting the onion sets off in trays this year as I’m a bit late with them👍

[Stere]

Tilth looks perfect  did you use a rotavator?

[gary112]

2 hours ago, Stere said:

Tilth looks perfect  did you use a rotavator?

Yes i use a Merry Tiller,but always dug over by hand in the winter months first

[Dan Maynard]

.  Will be careful with late frosts but will see how it works out!

Plenty of those late frosts arrived, how are you getting on?