An ode to teabags at bulding sites

Teas

Tea, it turns out, is a crucial ingredient in the “building mix”, when it comes to bonding with your builders. The relationship is directly proportionate to the frequency of cups served throughout the day. A happy builder is the one that has all the materials and tools to hand, is sufficiently hydrated throughout the day and has a spare ear to turn to.

Considering all the health benefits that come with the brew (for cardio-vascular / brain / nervous / immune systems, bones, digestion, oral hygiene and fighting disease among many others), it’s good to know that not only do we keep our builders in high spirits, but also contribute to their good health!

Our compost heap is inundated with teabags now too, which now seem to outnumber vegetable peelings and grass clippings. I have completely missed out on the fact that apparently 20-30% of all tea bags contain polypropylene (PP), including  Typhoo, Tetley, PG Tips, Clipper and Twinings tea bags. PP is a type of plastic used to glue the sides of the bag together, and is used industry-wide in a wide range of food and non-food packaging such as pots, tubs and trays. And although PP is safe, it does not bio-degrade in compost, and the advice is either too rip up the bags before composting, or sieve the bags out when the compost is ready to spread. Better still, use loose leaf tea in the first place.

Based on the current quantities of men on site and cups of tea served per head, the average beverage  consumption in a 5-day week at our building site is:

  • Cups of black tea ~ 125  (meaning the Yorkshire Tea box of 160 was just about enough to last a week. Today I bought a 260 bag box)
  • Cups of herbal / green tea ~ 25 (that’s me)
  • Cups of coffee  ~ 40
  • Hot water ~52 litres
  • Milk ~ 7 pints
  • Sugar ~ 0.5kg  (our household never saw so much sugar ever! We had a small bag of sugar in the house lasting us 3 years! excluding jam- and preserve-making)
  • Electricity and washing-up ~ tbd
  • Subsequent toilet trips ….. ~ tba 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

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