PG Tips in hot water as drinkers say their eco-friendly pyramid tea bags break apart in cuppas

• The seal on their eco-friendly teabags allegedly broke apart and ruined cuppas
• The problem forced them to continue experimenting with the seal a year later
• The original plastic seal was replaced with a plant based material in 
• Brand experts said PG Tips should be applauded for going green 

PG Tips is in hot water after its eco-friendly teabags were found to break apart too easily.

Tea drinkers are complaining that the biodegradable seal, brought in to replace plastic, frequently splits open and ruins cuppas.

The problem has forced PG Tips to continue experimenting with the seal a year after it was rolled out, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

The distinct pyramid bags are made of paper, which was previously sealed with a common plastic known as polypropylene. 

Tea drinkers are complaining that the biodegradable seal, brought in to replace plastic, frequently splits open and ruins cuppas

The distinct pyramid bags are made of paper, which was previously sealed with a common plastic known as polypropylene were changed and the plastic was replaced with a plant-based material derived from corn, polylactic acid (PLA), which doesn’t work as well for sealing the tealeaves into the paper

The plastic was replaced with a plant-based material derived from corn, polylactic acid (PLA), which doesn’t work as well for sealing the tealeaves into the paper.

Brand experts said PG Tips should be applauded for going green – but needs to get the formula for sealing bags correctly. 

Consumers complaining on Twitter are asked to chat via direct message, helping PG Tips avoid admitting to its problems publicly. 

One customer was told via message: ‘We’ve been working extremely hard to fix the problems and have made huge improvements at our factory in Manchester.’

When asked if a solution had been found, the customer service agent said: ‘This is still an issue we are working on.’

Tea lovers in Britain go through nine billion PG Tips teabags a year, making it the market leader.

Yorkshire Tea, the UK’s second-biggest tea brand, has also experienced problems trying to go green after a botched attempt to introduce eco-friendly bags in 2018 was, in its own words, ‘a total disaster’.

‘PLA, it turns out, is a lot trickier to work with than oil-based plastic,’ the firm said.

 ‘We’ve tried a ton of stuff, including refurbishing our machines and tweaking all sorts of settings – and everything made a difference, but nothing fixed the problem completely.’

In September 2021, it reintroduced teabags sealed with PLA. 

Brand experts said PG Tips should be applauded for going green – but needs to get the formula for sealing bags correctly

In September 2021, it reintroduced teabags sealed with PLA. The firm said that three years of research had improved the teabags, though they admitted there was still ‘lots more to do’ in their quest to go green

The firm said that three years of research had improved the teabags, though they admitted there was still ‘lots more to do’ in their quest to go green.

Supermarket brands have faced similar issues. It took Co-Op three years before they launched biodegradable bags in 2021. 

The UK’s biggest supermarket, Tesco, has only this month begun selling plastic-free bags – but says it will do so across its entire range from April.

Liam Maguire, executive director at Good Relations PR agency – who has worked on big name food and drink brands – said: ‘Going green is a good thing but you still need your product to work. 

‘A teabag that splits and leaves tealeaves in the pot, cup or mug is not fit for purpose.

Make it eco-friendly but make sure your loyal customers can still, in this case, drink it.’

A spokesman for PG Tips said: ‘We noticed that a small number of our teabags weren’t working so well with the new plant-based material causing issues with the teabags’ seal. 

‘We are sorry our consumers had to experience this.

‘We have been working extremely hard to fix these issues and have made improvements. We commit to making more progress in 2023 to delivering a perfect cuppa.’

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