TEALEAVES, a luxury tea blender based in Vancouver, Canada, will move its tea bags into home-compostable envelopes. The company announced the change on April 24, 2020, to mark Earth Month, and said the new packaging would arrive at the start of 2021.
The tea sachets themselves are already plant-based, since they are made from polylactic acid. The new step targets the envelope around each bag. After reviewing a range of packaging options, TEALEAVES chose NatureFlex, a film made from FSC-certified birch and eucalyptus wood pulp.
According to the company, the envelopes cut plastic waste while still protecting the tea inside. In garden compost they should break down in about six months. By contrast, petroleum-based plastics are estimated to last anywhere from 100 to 500 years.
Co-founder and CEO Lana Sutherland said the brand’s love of plants and botanicals has always tied it to nature. She described TEALEAVES as a small player among giants, but one that can still make a real difference.
The packaging switch is part of a wider push on climate and biodiversity. TEALEAVES hosted a panel and workshop at the World Biodiversity Forum in Davos, Switzerland, with partners that included the World Health Organization, Botanic Gardens Conservation International and the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future. The session looked at links between biodiversity, climate change and public health.
The company also launched the Garden of Secrets Project, which explores biomimetic design as a source of environmental solutions. It premiered at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, as part of the Nature Triennial. A related Garden of Secrets blend mixes botanicals with invasive local species, and all proceeds go to the University of British Columbia Botanical Garden.
TEALEAVES was established in 1994 and still blends its teas by hand in small batches. For more than two decades it has supplied five-star hotels and Michelin-starred chefs around the world.
