Our Sustainability

Naturally a Better Cup

Our Sustainability

None of our products contain anything artificial and they never will. We believe that all the small things we do add up to make a big difference. We are always looking for ways to be more natural and reduce our impact on the environment. It influences every single decision we make.

Our Commitment to Organic

Clipper is fiercely committed to being organic and anything new we make will be organic certified. Guided by our organic principles, we are committed to being GM-free and will only use ingredients from non-GM sources. We actively discourage the use of chemicals such as pesticides amongst our growers, which we believe gives us better tea that’s better for the environment.

Why Make the Switch to Organic?

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Decaffeination... the Organic Way

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Our Commitment to Organic

here at Clipper we’re committed to being organic & anything new we make will be organic certified

Packaging fit for our tea

Unbleached Teabags

We belive simple is better and that’s true for our tea and our packaging, too. We never used chemically bleached teabags because who cares if a teabag isn’t white? After all, it’s what’s on the inside that counts.

We’re Packaging Pioneers

We switched to a plant-based, fully bio-degradeable bio-material over a year ago. As a result we have prevented tonnes of polypropylene plastic from entering the waste stream. We’re working on a number of green packaging options, including reducing our packaging weight and improving our recyclability.


Our Handy Packaging Guide

We know that it can be confusing to know what to do with your waste these days. So to make things really simple, we’ve put together a handy table which tells you exactly how each item of our packaging should be recycled or disposed of.

pillow tea bag
Pillow tea bags

Made from:

Completely free of polypropylene. Sealed with PLA a bio-material from non-GM plant material

Unbleached of course!

Biodegradable
Put in food bin
string and tea bag
String & tag tea bags

Made from:

Bag- paper & wood cellulose based binder

Unbleached of course!

String- 100% organic certified cotton

Tag- Paper

Biodegradable
Put in food bin
Envelopes
Envelopes

Made from:

Paper with a heat seal coating

Recyclable
Put in recycling bin
pack cartons
Pack cartons

Made from:

Paperboard & Ink

Recyclable
Put in recycling bin
foil inner bag
Inner bag

Made from:

Polyethylene

Recyclable at supermarket collection points

Recyclable
good to know

Good to Know

Our teabags are sealed with a plant-based bio-material which won’t contaminate your compost heap with a petro-chemical residue,  but latest advice is that UK composts might not get warm enough to fully breakdown the teabags. We can only recommend that you put our teabags in the food waste bin.

While the paperboard in our boxes & tags is biodegradable, this could take a long time. So we believe recycling is best for these items.

what's next

Reducing our packaging

We have invested over £1m in a new production line to remove the unrecyclable inner foil bag across Clipper’s larger packs making the packaging 100% recyclable and suitable for kerbside collection for the paper recycling stream – the is the latest milestone in our 38-year history of ethical and sustainable tea production.

We have also replaced the inner foil bag within our Clipper smaller packs with PE film which is fully recyclable with other household soft plastics at supermarket collection points.

This packaging is ‘ready to recycle’ and can be recycled at carrier bag collection points at the larger stores of major supermarkets. Please check with your local supermarket, for more information see www.recyclenow.com/what-to-do-with/plastic-film


Are Our Tea Bags Plastic-Free?

Plastic free tea bags

At Clipper, we’ve always set out to do the right thing for both people & planet.

In 2018 we were the World’s 1st tea company to make ALL our heat seal teabags, unbleached, non-GM, plant-based &  fully biodegradable.

Clipper teabags are sealed with a non-GM bio-material made from plant cellulose, known as PLA, also known as bio-plastic. PLA is made from bio material, is fully biodegradable & nothing like the damaging oil-based plastics that people are rightfully concerned about.

If you want to make a choice that’s better for the planet – then make a switch to plant-based, biodegradable teabags, sealed with PLA.

we want to be really clear about the difference between the two materials

When we say plant based and biodegradable, we mean our tea bags are free from polypropylene otherwise known as petro-based or fossil fuel based plastic.

Our sustainability plastic free tick

plant-based & biodegradable

Our new tea bag paper is made from a bio-material, which is a natural plant based material.

Our sustainability plastic free tick

non-GM

We would never use GM products, which is why we use a bio-material guaranteed to be from a non-GM crop, to seal our paper together.

Our sustainability plastic free tick

Unbleached

Adding anything artificial to our products is a big no no, that’s why we never bleach our tea bags.

The world’s first plant-based, biodegradable, unbleached and non-GM tea bags

Find out more about how we created the world’s first unbleached, non-GM plant-based &  fully biodegradable pillow tea bags.


Cutting our Carbon Footprint

All Clipper teas are blended and packed in the UK, limiting the food-miles on your daily cuppa. But that’s just the start…

we've saved 347017 car trips

Offsetting Emissions

Over the last decade we’ve offset over 31,000 tonnes of carbon emissions. That’s the equivalent of 347,017 car trips from London to Paris!

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