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Counting Down the Top 10 articles of 2020 - #5: Compostable Overwrap for Tea Bags

Based on online clicks and unique page views, we are counting down the Top 10 articles of 2020. Join us as we look back at the best of 2020. Pat Reynolds' report on compostable overwraps for tea bags came in at #5.

It took nearly 10 years for Numi to develop its compostable overwrap for individual tea bags.
It took nearly 10 years for Numi to develop its compostable overwrap for individual tea bags.

Pat Reynolds reported in July 2020 that listening to the stakeholders behind this determined compostable tea bag effort is a vivid reminder of how many factors must be weighed before a compostable film can be commercialized.

It took about 10 years, and it wasn’t without a setback or two. But Oakland-based Numi Organic Tea now has an overwrap for individual tea bags that is ASTM D6868-substantiated as compostable in commercial composting facilities. Developed by sustainable packaging company Elk Packaging , the three-layer adhesive lamination consists of, from the outside in, paper/cellophane/polylactic acid. The cellophane layer is Futamura’s  Natureflex cellophane, a clear cast film made in Futamura’s plant in the UK of renewable wood pulp from managed plantations. According to Jake Hebert, Senior Manager of Sales and Marketing at Futamura...

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