NATIVIA® Enables Compostable Tea Bags for Compliance with the PPWR

Challenge:

While tea bags remain a popular and convenient way for consumers to brew their beverage, the consumption of single-use tea bags produces significant amounts of waste.

A significant portion of this waste ends up in incineration or landfills, wasting the potential of the tea leaves to become valuable compost. Furthermore, non-compostable tea bags often contaminate bio-waste bins, complicating organic recycling.

The Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR), which entered into force on February 11th 2025, recognizes the role of compostable packaging as part of the solution and presents a significant paradigm shift. A key provision mandates that by February 2028, some applications among which permeable tea bags must meet the European standards for industrial composting throughout the EU, with the possibility for Member States to additionally require these products to be home compostable.

Compostable tea bags can be disposed of in the organic waste together with the tea leaves, avoiding the need for separation between the content and packaging, which would be complex, and increasing the capture of bio-waste for composting.

Solution:

Taghleef Industries, through its reDESIGN™ service, directly addresses the specific compostability requirements for tea bags mandated by the upcoming PPWR.

By selecting Ti’s NATIVIA® bio-based and compostable films for tea tag lamination, and combining them with a compostable bag and string, brands can ensure that every component of the tea bag system supports proper disposal and breakdown within industrial composting facilities.

Specifically, the NATIVIA® NTSS 20 micron BOPLA film is laminated to compostable paper using a compostable adhesive. This lamination provides the necessary rigidity for handling, ensures high-quality printing, and guarantees the strong and secure attachment of the string.

Benefits:

• Compliance with PPWR: this redesigned solution directly addresses the upcoming mandatory requirements for industrial compostability of tea bags in the EU by February 2028
  
• Increase of bio-waste capture for composting: this redesigned solution enables the disposal of the entire tea bag in the bio-waste bin, reducing the contamination the organic waste stream and increasing the amount of tea leaves being processed into valuable compost
  
• Reduce use of fossil-based resources: this redesigned solution eliminates the need for conventional plastic in tea tag lamination, as NATIVIA® films are derived from renewable resources