PG Tips vows to go completely plastic-free by 2021

Tea giant PG Tips has vowed to go plastic-free by next year, by making some huge changes to their products.

PG Tips has already got rid of the plastic wrappers that used to encase their 160-pack boxes, but now they've promised that they'll ditch the plastic across the brand.

They have vowed to go plastic-free by 2021, and if they do, they'll be the first leading tea brand to cut out plastic from their products.

In addition to this, PG Tips has revealed they've been working on eco-friendly teabags as well.

They debuted their first plant-based bags last year, which were made from corn starch, making them the first brand to have fully-biodegradable tea bags.

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Speaking about the bags in a 2018 press release, Noel Clarke, Vice President Refreshment at Unilever said, “Tea is the most consumed beverage after water in the UK with 9 billion PG tips tea bags made every year.

"After 85 years of making PG tips, we have a great understanding on how Brits love their tea.

"The new plant based material we’re moving to is an innovation based on cutting edge science and technology and we’re all really excited that, starting from now, the PG tips that you know and love will come from a renewable source that’s fully biodegradable.”

Before this big change, the PG Tips pyramid bags were made mostly with paper, with a small amount of polypropylene used to seal the tea bag.

But now they're rapidly moving to going entirely plastic-free, to increase the sustainability of their brand.

Fiachra Moloney, tea director at Unilever, added, "Being the first major tea brand to have biodegradable tea bags across our entire range as well as moving to plant-based packaging on our 160s packs is something we’re incredibly proud of."