[mcv]

I'm pretty sure my tea bags are paper, and have always been paper. It's the more recent "pyramid" shaped tea bags that I think are made of plastic. The most recent change to my tea bags was to remove the staple so they could go in organic waste.

[AlecSchueler]

You'd be surprised how paper-like the plastic bags appear to be.

[ahartmetz]

Could try burning a tiny piece and check how it behaves and smells.

[mcv]

I doubt the advice would be to throw them in the organic waste if it was plastic.

[AlecSchueler]

Some plastics can go in the organic waste bins, such as the organic waste bin bags.

[ddoeth]

While they can go in the organic waste bins, they still get sorted out at the end because they don't degrade fast enough.

Study from Australia: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0956053X2... Article from California: https://www.siliconvalley.com/2024/11/21/when-compostables-a... German Trash Company: https://www.zakb.de/keine-fremdstoffe-im-bioabfall

[AlecSchueler]

Sure and it might be that the teabags are also being sorted out.

[pfdietz]

Why can't staples go in organic waste? They go into my compost pile and will rust. Iron is like 5% of average crustal rocks and is abundant in soils.

[WithinReason]

Teapigs pyramids are made of cornstarch