The company said all its Duchy tea bags are now accredited with a TUV OK compost HOME certification meaning the tea bags can be placed directly into a home compost bin or heap.
Tea bags are commonly disposed of in compost or food waste bins, but a lot of tea bags on the market contain plastics that do not break down.
Consequently, a number of leading retailers and tea brands have been racing to develop plant-based and compostable tea bags that do not result in plastic waste and can be disposed of with other types of food or garden waste.
Just last week Tesco announced it would switch all its own brand tea bags to plant-based packaging that could be disposed of in kerbside food waste recycling bins by the summer, while Asda confirmed last autumn that it was also switching to plant-based bags.
However, Waitrose claims it is the first supermarket to certify its tea bags as suitable for home composting. It also confirmed that the packaging on the tea bag tags has been amended to reduce ink coverage, ensuring the tea bags can break down more effectively.
"The reality is that our customers want to make whatever changes they can to ensure they're shopping, eating and drinking more sustainably," said Christina Capellaro, packaging development manager at Waitrose. "By securing accreditation for products such as our Duchy home compostable tea bags, we're reassuring our customers that by making these little changes to their shopping habits, they can reduce their impact on the environment."
The supermarket said the move could prevent over 4.5 million Waitrose Duchy tea bags from going to waste in the first year alone, which is the equivalent of 12.2 tonnes of material saved from going to landfill or incineration.
It added that to further reduce waste, Waitrose would continue to use existing packaging in stock which will not specify the new compostable accreditation. But it stressed customers can rest assured that all Duchy tea bags purchased in-store or online now can be processed via a home compost bin right away.
