How Ito En Recycles Used Tea Leaves

I stumbled upon a video which I found to be interesting.

It’s one part of a series about Japanese tea day in 2022.

Unfortunately, the video doesn’t have English subtitles.

After Ito En makes its bottled teas, it ends up with 54,800 tons of spent tea leaves each year.

So they’ve been experimenting with making different products as a way to recycle those tea leaves.

In the video they show different things like business cards, a bench, and napkins.

Products made with used tea leaves often have antimicrobial and anti-odor properties.

Another interesting product shown in the video is an envelope. It’s less transparent, and weights 15% less than those made with paper.

Besides that, there’s a tatami mat made with tea leaves, and even an artificial grass.

The artificial grass is used at a soccer stadium in Kisarazu city.

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I looked at their website, there’s a long list of products.

One that caught my attention is a kitchen paper that smells like green tea.

I’d love to have that at home.

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