The Dangers of Teabag Staples

Staples in tea bags are used to attach the string to the tea bag and to the tag with the company's logo. According to Premier Tea, staples also prevent the tea bag from composting and ensure that the product flavor and freshness is retained during storage. Tea has numerous health benefits making it a common beverage for many people in the world. The staples holding the tea bag together, exposes the user and environment to several dangers.

Falling Off

• Although the staple is firm, it might still come off especially when the tea bag has been recycled several times. If the staple comes off without your notice when you're taking the tea, you can easily swallow it since it is quite small. Playful children can rip off the staples when making tea, and might end up swallowing them.

Damage to Microwave

• According to William Beatty, an electric engineer, if a staple is left exposed when micro-waving, it caused deflection in the microwave and result in sparks. A single staple might not start a microwave fire, but can cause damage by maybe burning a hole on the wall of the microwave. When using a microwave, it is safer to submerge the tea bag completely in water, to prevent any deflection. It is advisable to remove the staples from the tea bags before using them in your microwave, to be completely safe.

Composting

• Many people dispose tea bags in compost bins, since they are biodegradable. Compost manure is normally used to fertilize gardens in homes. The nutrients found in tea bags improve the content of the compost and adds acidity to the manure. The staples are metallic and are not biodegradable, slowing down the decomposition of the tea bag. Staples are exposed to moisture during decomposition and might rust. Rusty staples can cause injuries, when using compost manure in gardens. It is thus recommended that you remove the staple from the tea bag before putting them in a compost bin, to avert the above dangers.

Pollution

• Tea bags are disposed in compost bins or end up as trash in landfills. The staples come off after some time, when the tea bags decompose as result of moisture. These metallic staples rust, but remain intact since they do not decompose easily. Staples can be swept by rain water from farm manure and landfills, and then discharged as storm water down stream in rivers, oceans, lakes and seas, polluting the water.

Recommendations

• As stated above, the staples in the tea bags are dangerous and not environmentally friendly. It is advisable to buy tea bags without tags, strings and strings to reduce the environment and personal hazards associated with staples.