SustainabiliTEA

Arbor Teas Launches Next Generation Compostable Packaging

Beginning on Earth Day 2010, Arbor Teas became the first tea company to deliver its full line of organic loose teas in 100% backyard compostable packaging! With the release of this next generation packaging, we at Arbor Teas advanced our environmental mission, continuing to lead the tea industry through our staunch commitment to sustainable business practices. For the first time ever, tea drinkers are now able to compost their tea leaves AND tea packaging together in their home composting system!

ABOUT OUR BACKYARD COMPOSTABLE TEA PACKAGING
Our exciting new packaging is composed of a cellulose film made from wood pulp sourced from sustainably-managed trees. Most compostable packaging available in today’s marketplace is only truly compostable in industrial settings optimized for rapid breakdown. By contrast, the films used for Arbor Teas’ new packaging can actually breakdown in a backyard compost setting.

Because of greater variation in moisture and temperature, backyard composting environments have historically been incapable of breaking down so-called “compostable” packaging materials (e.g. corn plastic cups and take-out containers and the like). However, the material chosen for Arbor Teas’ new packages requires a less optimized environment for biodegradation, representing a major advancement in low-impact packaging. continue reading »

April 22 2010 | Green Business and Products and Sustainability | 4 Comments »

Study From Portugal: Green Tea ‘Promising Agent’ in Kidney Cancer

Just released by the World Tea News (Monday, April 12, 2010):

“Researchers at the University of Porto in Portugal have concluded a study indicating that green tea may be an effective anticancer agent for renal cell carcinoma (or RCC), the most common type of kidney cancer in adults and one of the most deadly.

The team noted RCC’s resistance to chemotherapy and radiotherapy, the resulting urgency to explore the potential of other therapies and the potential for managing other types of cancer that green tea and tea polyphenols have demonstrated in other studies.

With this in mind, the researchers set out to analyze the antiproliferative effect of an antioxidant-rich green tea extract on human renal cancer cell lines. They found that “green tea extract strongly inhibited the growth of both RCC cell lines in a concentration-dependent manner,” stated an abstract of the findings. “This is the first report showing that green tea is likely to be an effective anticancer agent for renal cell carcinoma.”

A report from the research will appear in the September 2010 issue of the scientific journal Food Chemistry.”

April 15 2010 | Tea and Health | 2 Comments »