Gardeners told to use teabags in garden - but only if they rip them open first

Garden enthusiasts are being advised to put teabags in their garden this September, but only after tearing them open first.

Composting is a highly beneficial practice for your garden throughout the year, transforming kitchen waste like potato peelings, carrot trimmings and banana skins into rich, nutritious compost that will enhance your garden plants and result in larger, stronger fruits and vegetables as well as healthier flowers.

You can begin a compost pile anywhere in your garden with a basic plastic bin, although pricier and more advanced options exist including wooden composters, multi-opening 'hot bins' and various other stylish solutions.

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For those on a budget, a simple plastic box or an old bin with a lid will suffice if you just add some airholes for the plant bacteria to utilise for decomposition.

However, a warning has been issued to those adding teabags to their compost - you must rip open the bags first and pour the raw tea leaves in directly, reports the Express.

This is due to the fact that many of the top branded teabags sold today actually contain plastic.

Numerous supermarket brands use plastic in their teabags, which means they will never decompose in your compost, leaving behind a plastic residue that will also taint your compost with leached plastic chemicals.

Even plant-based teabags, such as those used by Yorkshire Tea, should be cut open, and the bag disposed of separately, not in the compost bin.

Yorkshire Tea has stated: "PLA tea bags are sometimes called 'plastic free', but we've never used that label and WRAP, the people behind the UK Plastics Pact, also advise against it because plant-based plastics are still plastics.

"You can snip open your used tea bags, compost the tea inside at home, and put the bag itself in your refuse bin. If you don't want to do that, the alternative is to put your tea bag in your refuse bin."

Consumer advice magazine Which? explains: "Tea bags have traditionally been sealed with a plastic called polyproplene, which enables their edges to be heat sealed and stop them falling apart in hot water. Small amounts were used, but it prevented them being composted and, due to the enormous amount of tea bags used in the UK, it generated a large amount of plastic waste.

"The advice from the UK Tea and Infusions Association is to rip open the bags before placing the used tea leaves on your compost heap and dispose of the teabag paper separately in your bin where it will go into landfill."