Packaging

Those bags are not plastic!

Nope, those bags are 100% FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certified wood cellulose. That means the manufacturer has demonstrated, and the FSC have agreed, "that the material comes from verified and responsible sources that have met FSC’s strict environmental and social requirements." Of course, the exact technology that goes into the material in our bags is proprietary but here is a general description of the process to go from tree to holding your tea:

1.  Harvesting and preparing the wood: The first step is to responsibly harvest trees and turn them into wood chips. The wood chips are then cleaned, debarked, and chipped into small pieces. 

    Eucalyptus and wood chips

      2.  Making wood pulp: The wood chips are mixed with a (probably proprietary) chemical solution that dissolves the lignin, a natural glue-like substance that holds the wood fibres together. This creates a translucent or transparent pulp mixture. Per the manufacturer, the wood pulp carries FSC™ (Forest Stewardship Council™) and PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification) Chain of Custody certifications.
          3.  Casting the film: The pulp mixture is processed into viscose (think wood syrup) and then squeezed into a film form. The film is passed through a series of baths to convert it into cellulose, clean and condition it to create the clear, flexible film. Click here to watch the process. (It's pretty cool, but of course our founder taught materials science at Stanford, so you know, we're geeking out here!).
            4.  Forming the bags: Once the film is dried, additional coatings can be applied. The bags we use are suitable for heat sealing.
              5.  After-life: Because the film is made from wood, it can't be recycled with plastics but that's OK because it can be returned to the Earth by composting!

                USDA Certified Biobased Product TUV Home Compostable BPI Compostable Compostable PEFC Certified

                Bands & Adhesives

                All bag bands are printed (by us) on FSC paper using conventional inks and affixed with non-toxic, acid-free adhesives. Unfortunately, the conventional ink and adhesive means that the bands can't be home composted and should be put in your curb-side recycling. We are working on fully compostable solutions, stay tuned!

                Tins

                What is there to say? Metal tins are reusable (hand wash only please) and curb-side recyclable. Pretty simple stuff.