Re-using old tea bags

For all you greenies who feel bad throwing anything away without first re-using it, our volunteers at Shropshire Master Composters have come up with some top tips to help your re-use old tea bags.  

In the UK we get through mountains of these things ever year, literally tonnes and tonnes of them. Sadly most of them still end up going into landfill sites, but it doesn’t have to be that way.  Of course they make a perfect addition to a home compost heap but you can also re-use them first, for example: -

1. Skin care
Instead of expensive bath salts, run your bath water over several used tea bags for an aromatic and skin-rejuvenating soak. The antioxidants in green tea are particularly good for revitalizing skin.

2. Cleaning
Tea bags are slightly abrasive so really help for scrubbing congealed pots and pans, also the tannins in the tea help break down grease and fat.

3. Plant food
Break open a nutrient-rich tea bag and sprinkle liberally over plant. Acid loving plants appreciate this in particular.

4. Eye care
This method's an oldie but a goodie. Place cooled tea bags on your eyes, spa-style, for 10 minutes to relieve puffy, red eyes. Chamomile teabags  work particularly well for this.

5. Odour eatings
You can make a cheap natural air freshener with brewed tealeaves and a combination of your favourite essential oils.

6. Medicine
A used tea bag can help sooth the ache and reduce inflammation for insect bites, rashes and sunburn.

7. Polish
For sprucing up old floorboards soak half a dozen used tea bags in a bucket of water.  Then just mop your floors like normal.

8. Feet treat
Smelly feet can be enhanced with the antibacterial properties of soaking your feet in a basin of warm water topped with several used tea bags.

9. Flavouring
This may be an acquired taste but one of our volunteers recommended adding old herbal tea bags when cooking rice to add flavour and colour.

10. Compost
Of course home composting is the ultimate form of re-use. Through the magic of composting you can turn unwanted old tea bags into wonderful soil improver for the garden.  Despite some media reports about the material used to make tea bags they do still break down in a compost heap and they make a great addition to compost, adding vital nitrogen which boosts plant growth. So re-use them first and then get composting.