Are Your Tea Bags Leaching Billions of Microplastics into Your Cup?
By Jacey Sillito
Steeping a warm cup of tea is one of the most common daily rituals in the world, yet modern teabags made from synthetic polymers leach massive quantities of microscopic plastic straight into hot water.
Chemosphere has published a study investigating nanoplastic release from commercial teabags: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2024.143736
When steeped at brewing temperatures, plastic teabags release billions of microscopic fibers and nanoplastics into a single cup, with polypropylene releasing the highest volume. Once swallowed, these tiny particles interact directly with human gut cells, where mucus-producing cells can trap and absorb them, allowing particles from polypropylene, cellulose, and nylon to penetrate cells and settle around cell nuclei within 24 hours.