this post was submitted on 10 Jan 2025
40 points (90.0% liked)

United Kingdom

4158 readers
98 users here now

General community for news/discussion in the UK.

Less serious posts should go in !casualuk@feddit.uk or !andfinally@feddit.uk
More serious politics should go in !uk_politics@feddit.uk.

Try not to spam the same link to multiple feddit.uk communities.
Pick the most appropriate, and put it there.

Posts should be related to UK-centric news, and should be either a link to a reputable source, or a text post on this community.

Opinion pieces are also allowed, provided they are not misleading/misrepresented/drivel, and have proper sources.

If you think "reputable news source" needs some definition, by all means start a meta thread.

Posts should be manually submitted, not by bot. Link titles should not be editorialised.

Disappointing comments will generally be left to fester in ratio, outright horrible comments will be removed.
Message the mods if you feel something really should be removed, or if a user seems to have a pattern of awful comments.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
tom@feddit.uk
GreatAlbatross@feddit.uk
frankPodmore@slrpnk.net
40
Your Tea Bag Is Likely Releasing Billions of Microplastic Particles, According to a New Study (www.foodandwine.com)
submitted 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) by Zip2@feddit.uk to c/unitedkingdom@feddit.uk
13 comments fedilink hide all child comments
top 13 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] beefbot@lemmy.blahaj.zone 6 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Oh MY teabag. Because I’M the one at fault here & not billionaires who demanded more profits by any means which ended up being making teabags from microplastics.

F off, we’re not buying headlines like that anymore. It’s NOT MY FAULT that these things exist & there’s usually no financial alternative to it.

THE BILLIONAIRE IS TO BLAME HERE.

edit: OP obviously this is aimed at the magazine & not at you posting this

[–] Zip2@feddit.uk 1 points 1 day ago

edit: OP obviously this is aimed at the magazine & not at you posting this

That’s cool. Personally I can’t stand the stuff, I’m alcohol total.

[–] splinter@lemm.ee 24 points 2 days ago (2 children)

This study is such bullshit. They took 300 teabags and boiled them in 600ml of water while stirring at 750rpm for an unspecified amount of time, and claim their method to be an accurate simulation of making a cup of tea.

[–] rimu@piefed.social 9 points 2 days ago (2 children)

I had trouble believing you at first so I hunted down the study https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0045653524026377?via%3Dihub to verify. You're completely right!

[–] ralakus@lemmy.world 6 points 2 days ago

Three teabag types were purchased online (Amazon and AliExpress) or in a local supermarket. The online-purchased teabags were ordered empty (with no tea inside) and with a known polymer composition

The third teabag type (sample 3), bought in the supermarket, was a regular tea brand of green tea

300 teabags were transferred into a 1 L beaker (pre-washed and sterilized) containing 600 mL of Milli-Q water at 95 ◦C with constant stirring (750 rpm).

It sounds like they were using a magnetic stir bar rather than a spoon or rod but still, 300 teabags, most of which coming empty from Amazon or AliExpress in 600ml is ridiculous.

[–] splinter@lemm.ee 4 points 2 days ago

It’s almost too absurd to believe.

There’s a conversation to be had about microplastic contamination, but this study feels and sounds like bad faith argument.

[–] Zip2@feddit.uk 4 points 2 days ago

They probably microwaved the water too, and didn’t use a saucer. No mention of when they put the milk in?

[–] sharkfucker420@lemmy.ml 11 points 2 days ago

Pro tip from someone who encounters these tea bags a lot and was already uncomfortable with them. Open the bag and put it in a french press or metal loose leaf holder

[–] FarceOfWill@infosec.pub 9 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Not clicking but if this is the one from a while ago its specifically about plastic teabags. And, like, obviously.

If you stir with a plastic spoon you'll have even more

[–] smeg@feddit.uk 1 points 2 days ago

What if I exclusively drink out of disposable plastic mugs? That's still fine, right?

[–] OmegaLemmy@discuss.online 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Buying lots of premium tea isn't that much more expensive...

Why won't you guys do it?

[–] MY_ANUS_IS_BLEEDING@lemm.ee 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Tea bags are about convenience. No need to portion them out and fewer utensils involved which means less washing up and it makes them much easier to use on the go.

[–] zagaberoo@beehaw.org 1 points 1 day ago

Getting an infusing scoop made loose tea just as practical in my experience. I just rinse it rather than wash it since it only ever touches tea leaves and water.