Consuming with Intention:

The Dirt on Composting Day

Hear us out: May 29th a.k.a. Composting Day, is the year’s most underappreciated holiday. Why, you ask? Well, we’re always looking for ways to do better, and we think a holiday celebrating a powerful way to do just that should get a bit more recognition. Let us explain!

Here’s the problem: when food waste ends up in landfills it decomposes, producing harmful greenhouse gases (like methane), which are about 20x worse for climate change than carbon dioxide.

Apart from being wasteful, this process significantly contributes to the overall global warming impact of our food system. But, if food waste is composted instead of thrown away, you get rich fertilizer instead of methane.

Ask your science-inclined friends about aerobic vs. anaerobic decomposition for more background. For us? We’re just excited that composted food waste isn’t waste at all, but a wholesome, helpful resource in its own right!

COMPOSTING MADE EASY

Our teas are designed to make composting easy: the teabag, tea, and tag are all compostable. Just take the string out and the whole thing is good to go!

There might be municipal composting options in your local area, or you can do it yourself! The EPA has an easy-to-follow home composting guide here that works indoors or outdoors. And don’t worry, it won’t smell, and it doesn’t require much effort.

If you have a garden, or even some potted plants, they’ll thank you for producing some rich, natural soil for them to enjoy.

And no, this isn’t one of those corporate messages where we tell you to do something good while we do nothing.

doing our part

As tea producers, we create a fair amount of organic waste, and we work hard to make sure it ends up in composting facilities, not landfills. In 2021 alone we composted over 51,000 lbs of organic material from our facility in Eugene, Oregon – that’s a lot of helpful soil and a lot less methane in the atmosphere.

Not only that, but we are doing our part by teaching farmers to start composting too. In Rwanda, where the black tea for our English Breakfast and Earl Grey blends comes from, we are leading an initiative to incorporate composted material on local farms.

Composted material is nature’s perfect fertilizer, and we trust it a lot more than the chemical stuff that’s so common these days – not on our organic ingredients, of course! Less waste, healthier plants, less climate change – what’s not to like?

Let’s make change together.

So don’t let this Composting Day pass unobserved! It’s never too late to start sustainable habits, and your efforts really do make a difference, particularly when we are all working together. Join the celebration!