Gardening tip of the week. Recycle used tea bags.
Tea bags are not just for tea! You may not be English and have a cup of tea at various times throughout the day but many people do drink tea quite often. My daughter Jess spent a semester studying in the UK and she drinks tea all the time now. But don’t throw those used tea bags away! There are so many different ways to reuse a teabag (other than obviously making another cup). Here is my list of 15 ingenious ways to use tea bags in the home and garden. (affiliate link)
Grab a cup of tea (and don’t forget to use my Music Sheet Tea Coasters) and check out these ideas!
Here are some favorite gardening recycling tips for tea bags that you can incorporate into your tea drinking ritual.
- Wet, used tea bags are great for cleaning the leaves of household plants. Since the plants absorb the tea through the leaves, they get a real treat as well.
- Tea bags do wonders for the garden. They enrich the soil by increasing nitrogen levels, and also give earthworms (fertilizers) something yummy to eat. Just be sure to remove the tags first. They take a long time to break down and might be plastic coated.
- Add tea bags to a compost pile. This reduces garbage in general and adds nutrients to a compost pile. Remove the tags if they have staples in them.
- If you don’t have a compost pile, just steep a tea bag in water until the water slightly changes color, and then use the liquid to water your plants.
- You could even just bury the tea bag outside directly in the garden to add nutrients to the soil. Don’t worry-the tea bag will decompose. Note: Just be sure to remove the staple and tag it if has one. We don’t want that in the compost or soil next year!
Don’t have a garden? There are still lots of great uses for used tea bags:
- Soothe your tired eyes with a tea bag compress. Soak them in cold water first. The tea will rejuvenate your face, removing the redness and puffiness after a while.
- Flavor tough meat! use tea bags (or even leftover tea) to marinade your meat. The sweetness of the drink will add a savory taste to your dish and tenderize it too.
- Help with a canker sore. The tea’s healing properties will soothe the pain and make the sore go away faster. This method also helps when you have a pulled tooth by limiting the bleeding.
What other uses have you found for your tea bags?
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More Tips from readers of the blog: (thanks for your submissions!)
- Patti says: Strong tea is wonderful for sunburn. I burn very easily and have used tea all of my life.
- Edna Dabbs says: When you have cut use a wet tea bag to stop the bleeding.
- Martha says: I keep an empty ice cream bucket in my freezer and empty the used coffee grounds every morning. Once it is full, I put it outside to thaw and then fill with water and pour the grounds over my roses and vegetables. Been doing this for 35 yrs. No mold. Tea bags will do the same.
- Jacki Tigg Mathis says: When I was just beginning to breast feed my babies, I was very sore and the skin was broken on the nipples, I used warm tea bags and placed them over them for a while, I healed up in no time at all.
- Lynda says: Rubbing a wet teabag over legs and arm will give you an instant light suntan (you might need more than one) or pouring strong tea into your bath water will do the same.
- Dawn says: If you have a stinky foot odor problem ,soaking your feet in tea water helps ,Thank You Dr. Oz !
- Socialgal52 says: Lay wet tea bags on a sunburn to draw out the burn.
Thanks for the tips readers!
Most of the images used in this post are public domain images from Pixabay and MorgueFile.
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Strong tea is wonderful for sunburn. I burn very easily and have used tea all of my life.
when you have cut use a wet tea bag to stop the bleeding..
I remember my dear old mum-in-law bathing my sunburn in tea when I was 16 (before I was married to her son) 🙂 At the time I thought she was mad!! That was back in 1957!!
If you don’t have a compost pile, and you don’t garden, but have rose bushes, hydrangea, and azaleas, and want to save tea bags and coffee grounds how long can these be saved to use on the plants? Freeze them? Refrigerate them? How long till they begin to grow mold?
I keep an empty ice cream bucket in my freezer and empty the used coffee grounds every morning. Once it is full, I put it outside to thaw and then fill with water and pour the grounds over my roses and vegetables. Been doing this for 35 yrs. No mold. Tea bags will do the same.
Vinegar works for sunburn also. So does canned evaporated milk, it will have a sour smell if sunburn is real red, but it does help the burning sensation.
Thanks Kay!
When I was just beginning to breast feed my babies, I was very sore and the skin was broken on the nipples, I used warm tea bags and placed them over them for a while, I healed up in no time at all.
Rubbing a wet teabag over legs and arm will give you an instant light suntan (you might need more than one) or pouring strong tea into your bath water will do the same.
Also If you have a stinky foot odor problem ,soaking your feet in tea water helps ,Thank You Dr. Oz !
Lay wet tea bags on a sunburn to draw out the burn
Thanks for all the great tips everyone. I have updated the article to add them.
Carol
Just googled the subject…you came up…AMAZING!! mine will be just for the garden but I will TRY to remember next time I cut myself. Great site and Thanx.
Glad you enjoyed my article William. Welcome to my blog. Carol
I never knew there were so many uses for tea bags! I’ll be bookmarking this post! So many wonderful ideas! I will start off trying it as a meat marinade. Thanks a ton!
My pleasure Suzanne. Glad you enjoyed the post.
Carol
I will save all tea bags, and do wonderful things to save a life.
Our cat recently had her eyes matted up and watering, I looked it up and it said to use a tea bag to wipe her eyes twice a day. Tannic acid heals the eye ducts. Worked first wipe!
What a neat tip. Thanks for sharing Kathy!
Carol
When you visit a dentist and if there is any bleeding, wet a “Lipton tea bag” and put it directly on the spot where it is bleeding and leave it there for a couple of minutes or till it stops bleeding.
Great tip Coco!
Take the tea bag and let it dry in sun, then you take tea bag and put in container, take paraffin and trough over and use to lit a fire.
I use this to lit my fireplace and it work wonderfully.
awesome page very usefull
Didn’t know you can still make use of these tea bags! This is awesome. Instead of just throwing them out, utilise them for the purposes mentioned.
hot tea bags are great when you have a “sty” on your eyelid. use as a warm compress
through out the day for relief
Hi Leslie
I get those often. Thanks for the tip! Carol
First of all I thought how it is related to recycling after reading this entire article I got an idea to recycle.
I love your tea bag post. There are some great ideas. I was disappointed to recently learn about the plastic mesh being used in so many tea bags (see link). I’ve stopped putting them in my compost. I’d like to know which companies are not using plastic. Does anyone know?
Thank you!
A tea bag may soothe a burn, but it cannot “draw out a burn” which is damage to the skin.
These are very helpful tips, and I’m noting this page, but that remark is blatantly medically impossible.
Hi Pat. I’m sure the reader who submitted the tip had soothing in mind when she took her time to submit her tip. I’d rather not edit someone else’s comments, so I will leave the wording as it is. Carol
Caffiene is a natural painkiller.
Can i soak a heap of old tea bags then use the tea water to water my plants ?
Hi Leeanne. I’ve never done this so I can’t say for sure. It might be too strong. Perhaps water it down a bit with new fresh water about 1/2 after you soak? Carol
Does putting tea bags in your garden bring in animals?
HI Julia. I have never seen this happen in mine. The main things to worry about with any type of composting or soil adding materials is to avoid meat and oils. They do definitely attract pests. Carol
I have been using black tea seeped in a quart of water and 1 T epsom salts in a gallon of water to fertilize pansies and rhubarb. It’s amazing! I used to drink flavored teas and I was going to start using them (like constant comment, etc) up. Is there any reason not to use these as well as the plain black?
Hi Heidi, I can’t see any reason why they would not work in a similar way. Just try it lightly at first to be sure. Carol
I have discovered a tin of tea bags. They would be many years old! I’m not a tea drinker and wouldn’t think of doing anything but throwing them out had I not discovered your site. Could these tea leaves still be used to benefit my garden?… and if so, could the tea be used without actually making the tea? I wondered if I could simply drop a tea bag into my watering cans?
Hi Linda. To be honest, I have not tried them in cold water. The warm water releases the tea flavor. But the purpose of this is to have them break down in the soil to add nutrients, so I can’t see a reason why just tossing them into the cold water in the watering can would not work. Carol
Thanks so much for a useful article. I love the comment from the reader that saves coffee grounds in the freezer for her roses! I will be trying this and some of the others. Thank you to those that posted clever ideas… Tea Time!!☕🌿🌹😃
My pleasure Paula. Glad you liked the article and reader comments. Carol