A hot cup of tea can bring us comfort, joy, and warmth when we need it most — and choosing fair trade, organic, and zero waste tea can help ensure that we’re sipping in good conscience.
The conventional tea industry faces no shortage of problems between well-documented labor issues, including child labor and environmental destruction, such as land degradation and deforestation. There are also health concerns to be aware of when it comes to what may be lurking in our tea like high levels of pesticide residues or microplastics.
While there are significant challenges facing the industry, there are sustainable and ethical tea brands paving a better way for the planet and the growers behind our tea.
What is sustainable tea?
“Sustainable” is a broad word, but for this guide, it means:
- The tea was grown organically, regeneratively, and/or biodynamically without synthetic pesticides, fertilizers, or insecticides. Most brands included here are certified organic and there are a few using regenerative farming practices.
What is zero waste tea?
- Generally, zero waste tea is loose-leaf tea. Bonus points if you can get the loose-leaf tea from a bulk store! However, when shopping online for zero waste tea, it’s not possible to go completely package-free, though reusable and recycled options can make it lower waste!
- Or, the tea comes in plastic-free and compostable zero waste tea bags.
What is fair trade tea?
For this guide, it means that the tea was sourced ethically either through transparent direct trade from farm to brand or through a fair trade-certified partner. Many brands included in this guide source from Fair Trade-Certified farms, which is included in their descriptions.
All brands in this guide follow one or both of these standards — you’ll see which one (or both) of the standards each brand follows in their descriptions.
Now let’s dive in so you can get to sipping on some sustainable tea!
Note: This guide includes affiliate links. As always, all brands included meet high standards for responsibility and all opinions are my own.
Ethical and Sustainable Tea Companies to Know
1. Firebelly Tea
Firebelly Tea crafts flavorful tea blends with all natural, high-quality ingredients. The loose-leaf teas are USDA-Certified Organic and arrive in at-home compostable bags and the boxes are recyclable, making them one of our top zero waste tea picks! I’ll be composting the packaging in my own compost and will keep you posted here how it goes.
If you’re searching for a gift, or just want a starter set to get going, Firebelly Teas has Tea Samplers and Tea & Accessory Bundles. I sampled their Uppers and Downers as well as their Shades of Earl Grey tea. My personal favorites were the No Ordinary Joe (from the Uppers sampler) and After Dinner Mint (from the Downers sampler).
Conscious Qualities: USDA Organic Certified Teas, Rainforest Alliance Certified Teas, Compostable Packaging
2. Art of Tea
The Art of Tea imports high-quality organic teas, including many loose-leaf options. Their eco-friendly loose-leaf tea options include many different varieties — like green, black, herbal, yerba mate, and caffeine-free — as well as multiple flavor note options — such as citrus, floral, crisp, refreshing, and fruity. The ingredients used in the brand’s teas are USDA-certified organic
Conscious Qualities: Certified Organic
Explore Art of Tea’s Organic Teas
3. BLK&BOLD
My personal favorite spot for finding loose-leaf tea, BLK+BOLD is a coffee and speciality tea company with black, green, and herbal teas. I love their Earl Grey Black Tea and Chai Green Tea. I drink their Earl Grey nearly every day and the Chai is delicious hot in the winter and iced in the summer.
The Certified B-Corp also donates 5% of profits to organizations serving in-need youth. You can subscribe to their subscription plan to save and make sure you never run out of your tea!
Conscious Qualities: Black-owned, loose-leaf tea (not individually packaged), B-Corp, Gives Back
4. Equal Exchange
Equal Exchange is a worker-owned company with ethically-sourced food and beverage products. A worker co-op structure means that Equal Exchange’s employees and farmer partners all have a voice and vote in the operations of the for-profit organization.
Believing in social responsibility throughout their supply chain, Equal Exchange also follows fair trade standards, like increasing and stabilizing wages and promoting safe farming practices and working conditions. Equal Exchange’s teas are also USDA Organic-Certified.
Conscious Qualities: USDA Organic-Certified, Fair Trade Practices, Worker Co-Op Structure
Explore Equal Exchange’s Organic Fair Trade Teas
5. Guayakí
Guayakí goes a step beyond organic, using regenerative practices to grow their tea. The brand is actually in the Regenerative Organic Certification Pilot Program!
And, by using sustainable, ethical sourcing practices, Guayakí is helping preserve the South American Atlantic Rainforest and promoting the self-sufficiency of Indigenous communities.
Conscious Qualities: USDA Organic-Certified, Regenerative Practices
Explore Guayaki’s Regenerative Organic Teas | Find Guayaki at Whole Foods
6. Sacred Blossom Farm
Sacred Blossom Farm is a localish-to-me (about 300 miles away) small-scale farm in Wisconsin producing herbal teas free of pesticides, herbicides or flavor additives using low-input, sustainable, innovative farming practices.
Working to mimic natural systems practices, Sacred Blossom Farm relies on the interconnectedness of nature to maintain the fertility of their fields and to support the health of their plants instead of synthetic fertilizers.
Using practices like minimal tillage, innovative polyculture systems, inter-seeding strategies, intensive cover-cropping, and hand-scale harvesting, Sacred Blossom Farm is really challenging the status quo when it comes to quality botanicals.
In addition to all of this, beginning this year, Sacred Blossom Farm is tracking ALL of the inputs used on the farm. This includes not only the tangible inputs used on the farm but also the fuel for the tractor and even all the miles the owner drives for the business.
Sacred Blossom Farm will also be launching completely plastic-free and biodegradable packaging this summer.
Conscious Qualities: Organic, Biodynamic Farming Practices
Explore Sacred Blossom Farm’s Sustainable Teas
7. Numi
Numi sources fair trade-certified and USDA-certified organic teas. The brand is also B-Corp certified (which is a holistic certification for companies ensuring social and environmental responsibility) and they’ve partnered with farming communities to ensure access to clean drinking water through an initiative called Together for H(2)OPE.
On top of all of this, Numi also uses packaging made up of 85% post-consumer waste and biodegradable paper tea bags and they invest in carbon offsetting through Carbon Fund.
Conscious Qualities: Certified Organic, Certified Fair Trade, B-Corporation, Gives Back, Offsets Carbon Emissions
Explore Numi’s Organic, Fair Trade Tea
8. Pukka
Pukka is a B-corp with a lovely range of organic, fair trade teas suited for any situation or time of day, including “Tumeric Active”, “Clean Matcha Green”, and “After Dinner”. Each package of organic tea comes in plastic-free tea bags and a recyclable envelope.
Pukka is also a member of 1% for the Planet, donating 1% of revenue to environmental causes.
Conscious Qualities: B-Corp, Soil Association Organic-Certified, Member of 1% for the Planet, Fair for Life-certified
9. Arbor Teas
Arbor Teas offers an exceptional selection of organic loose leaf teas, including black, green, white, oolong, Pu-erh, rooibos, and herbal teas. Many of Arbo Teas tea options are Fair Trade-Certified as well (about two thirds).
In addition to sustainable sourcing, Arbor Teas offsets their carbon emissions from transportation through Carbon Fund, powers their packaging facility using solar energy, and has backyard compostable packaging.
Conscious Qualities: USDA Certified-Organic, Many Fair Trade-Certified Teas, Compostable Packaging, Offsets Carbon Emissions
10. Organic India
Organic India is another tea brand going beyond organic and sustainable by using regenerative, biodynamic farming practices. Committed to sustainability throughout their supply chain, Organic India’s facility is LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Platinum Certified.
Having partnered with both Ayurvedic and Western physicians, Organic India has tea formulas specifically created with both traditional wisdom and modern science in mind.
Conscious Qualities: B-Corp, USDA Organic-Certified, Regenerative Practices
11. Choice Organic Teas
Choice Organic Teas were truly industry pioneers, having been the first exclusively organic tea company in the U.S.! The brand also purchases renewable energy credits for 100% of the electricity used by their facility and packages their teas sustainably, using 100% recycled paperboard and unbleached tea bags made with natural fiber.
The majority of Choice Organic Teas tea varieties are Fair Trade Certified and the brand has a map where shoppers can get more information about the farms that Choice sources from.
Conscious Qualities: USDA Organic-Certified, Many Teas are Fair Trade-Certified, Eco-Friendly Packaging
12. Outwoken
On a mission to think consciously outside of the box, Outwoken sells looseleaf teas that are grown by small-batch farmers around the world in at-home compostable packaging. This sustainable small tea business has unique teas that you don’t see elsewhere, such as Purple Kenyan Tea, a Colombian black tea + Colombian coffee mix, Chocolate Besos (my personal favorite!), and Bold Blue, which is a Chinese black tea mixed with butterfly pea powder from Thailand.
If you can’t decide, go with Outwoken’s gift box, which contains 5 different teas! (Pictured above.)
Conscious Qualities: Sourced from Small-Batch Farmers, Compostable Packaging, Donation Initiatives
Explore Outwoken’s Sustainable Teas
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The post 12 Fair Trade & Zero Waste Tea Brands to Sip On Sustainably appeared first on Conscious Life & Style.
Saint Augustine, in a sermon to his congregation, urged them to look beyond books, even to Bible, to see God in nature: “God, whom you want to discover, never wrote a book in ink. Instead, He set before your eyes the things that He had made. Can you ask for a louder voice than that?”
How do we move past the identity politics that dominate discourse on the left and right at this fractured moment and amount to a cacophony of special pleadings for the advantage of small groups, nations, and isolated networks? That’s why we ignore the Earth, because we cannot look up from our daily concerns. We need a new universal value that unites, one that emphasizes human dignity in the context of a restored, regenerating nature.
Earth911 inspirations. Print them, post them, share your desire to help people think of the planet first, every day.
The post Earth911 Inspiration: No Louder Voice? appeared first on Earth911.
https://earth911.com/living-well-being/earth911-inspiration-no-louder-voice/
Last Updated on February 6, 2026
Have you ever heard of Cancer Alley? It’s an ~85-mile stretch along the banks of the Mississippi River where communities exist beside ~200 fossil fuel and petrochemical operations.
Residents of Cancer Alley are exposed to more than 10x the level of health risk from hazardous air pollutants than people living elsewhere in the state. And it’s worth mentioning the residents exposed are mostly BIPOC and low-income communities.
But what exactly are petrochemicals? And how exactly do they harm both people and planet? Here’s everything you need to know.
what are petrochemical plants?
Petrochemical plants are facilities that process crude oil and fracked gas to make plastics, industrial chemicals and pesticides. They are usually located near petroleum refineries or integrated into large petrochemical complexes.
Petrochemical factories process and transform hydrocarbons into chemical products used in the plastics, textiles, automotive, pharmaceutical, and electronic industries.
Obtaining the raw materials needed to make petrochemicals is already carbon intensive – and the raw material processing these plants do only pollute further.
what is an example of a petrochemical?
An example of a petrochemical is ethylene, which is the most widespread petrochemical in the world, primarily used in the plastic industry to make polyethylene. You may know polyethylene as plastic resin #2 (HDPE – high density – used for milk jugs, detergent bottles, etc.) and #4 (LDPE – low density – used for plastic grocery bags/film).
Olefins plants (a specific type of petrochemical plant) produces ethylene. These plants use steam crackers and the energy input is considered one of the most energy intensive processes in the chemical industry.
But olefin plants are only one type of petrochemical plant. Aromatic plants produce nezene, toluene, and xylene from naphtha and other refinery streams. These make up dyes, detergents, and plastic products.
Syngas plants use natural gas or coal to generate synthetic gas, which creates industrial chemicals such as ammonia and methanol.
are petrochemicals harmful?
Petrochemicals have been linked to health problems, including cancer, according to an analysis in the New England Journal of Medicine.
That’s because to make petrochemicals, plants release volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that pollute the air. Not to mention refineries and plants discharge toxins into waterways, which contributes to water pollution.
According to an Environmental Integrity Project (EIP) report, nearly 70 petrochemical companies across the nation are sending millions of pounds of pollutants into waterways each year due to weak or nonexistent regulations. And yes, it does contaminate drinking water.
Residents of Cancer Alley have experienced this firsthand. Polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are present in their drinking water at levels hundreds of times higher than currently-suggested safe levels for human consumption.
And residents suffer the effects of extreme air pollution on a daily basis. Including increased risks of infertility, respiratory illness and cancer.
According to 70 interviews conducted by Human Rights Watch, women in Cancer Alley reported miscarriages, high-risk pregnancies, and poor health of newborns. Many shared stories of entire communities decimated by cancer (hence the name).
do petrochemicals harm the environment?
Yes, petrochemicals harm the environment too – petrochemical plants use massive amounts of energy to function, and in doing so, pollute the air, water and soil. Everything is intersectional.
Plus, as we transition away from fossil fuels to power our homes and businesses, petrochemical plants are becoming a lifeline to Big Oil. That’s because crude oil and gas are used to make many petrochemicals.
If petrochemical plants are allowed to grow, unregulated, there will be more consumption of oil and gas to come for decades. This directly contributes to climate change.
what is being done + how can we help?
Cancer Alley residents are fighting for reignition and change.
Sharon Lavigne, a retired special education teacher, founded Rise St. James, an organization focused on bringing environmental justice to the people of St. James Parish. The parish is located in one of Cancer Alley’s polluted hotspots, and Lavigne’s demands are far from radical. She simply wants clean air and drinking water.
Yet a lawsuit filed by the Biden Justice Department and EPA was recently dropped by the current administration.
Robert Taylor, founder of Concerned Citizens of St. John, said “…our government has abandoned us. We have been designated a sacrifice zone.”
Unfortunately, Texas recently also cleared the way for petrochemical expansion despite health warnings.
So how do we make an impact? Here are a few ways we can help:
- Reduce your reliance on plastics. Especially single-use. Here’s a beginner’s guide to waste reduction.
- Advocate for extended producer responsibility (EPR).
- Ditch banks that support the fossil fuel industry in favor of green banks.
- Support Earth Justice, which sews on behalf of the earth.
- Avoid using pesticides and advocate against their use on farms. Support local, pesticide-free farmers whenever possible.
- Invest in clean energy and green financing.
- Support community-based initiatives impacted most by petrochemical plants, such as Rise St. James and Concerned Citizens of St. John.
- Speak up and spread the word. Share this article so more people know about petrochemicals and why they harm people + planet.
How are you advocating against petrochemicals? Let me know in the comments!
The post Petrochemicals: How They Affect People + Planet appeared first on Going Zero Waste.
Back in 2020, the Recycling Partnership and WestRock released a scientific study demonstrating that used pizza boxes are recyclable, even when greasy and contaminated with cheese. Since that research was published, the findings have driven significant improvements in recycling program acceptance nationwide.
The basic results are clearly favorable for greater acceptance of pizza boxes for recycling. The typical pizza box has 1% to 2% grease content by weight, which is about one-tenth the acceptable level for cardboard (corrugated paperboard) recycling. The study looked at the impact of greasy boxes on mixed recycling loads that include 8% greasy pizza boxes with varying levels of greasy contamination from between 3% and 40%. The recycled materials produced were still viable for packaging use, well within the tensile strength required for packaging.
Recycling Acceptance Has Expanded
Since the study was released, pizza box recycling acceptance has grown substantially. According to the American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA), 82% of Americans now have access to a community recycling program that accepts pizza boxes—up from 73% in 2020. AF&PA member company mills representing 94% of old corrugated container consumption now accept pizza boxes with no observed impacts to operations or finished product quality.
The AF&PA’s guidance is unambiguous: “Corrugated pizza boxes are successfully recycled every day at paper mills throughout the country. Our industry wants these boxes back to recycle.”
Since about 3 billion pizza boxes are used in the U.S. each year, the improved recycling processes can capture roughly 600,000 tons of cardboard annually that could be turned into new boxes, paper towels, toilet paper, and other paper products.
What To Do Do With Your Next Pizza Box?
Our guidance is based on the research and current program acceptance:
For most Americans: Your recycling program likely accepts pizza boxes. Remove any leftover pizza, flatten the box, and place it in your recycling bin. Light grease stains are acceptable; the science confirms they don’t affect the recycling process.
If your box has a waxed paper liner, remove it before recycling: The box itself can be recycled as normal cardboard.
If your program prohibits pizza boxes: Don’t send materials your program won’t accept. Instead, check the composting options below or contact your local recycling coordinator to share the Recycling Partnership’s toolkit and AF&PA research. Citizen requests carry a lot of weight at local departments of sanitation.
If your box is heavily saturated with grease: Consider composting instead of recycling. While typical grease levels are fine for recycling, boxes that are completely soaked may be better suited for composting programs.
What About The Cheese?
You might ask, “Isn’t cheese a barrier to successful recycling?” Cheese tends to solidify and get screened out during the pulping process,” according to the 2020 report. The researchers tested sending boxes heavily contaminated with cheese through a recycling process and found that it did not significantly reduce the resulting paper fiber’s viability for reuse. Paper mills have become increasingly adept at screening out chunks of cheese during processing.
Composting: A Great Alternative
When recycling isn’t available, or your pizza box is heavily soiled, composting provides an excellent alternative that keeps cardboard out of landfills while creating nutrient-rich soil. Many cities now accept pizza boxes in curbside organics programs:
New York City requires all residents to separate food scraps and food-soiled paper from trash as of April 2025. Pizza boxes are explicitly accepted in the brown bin program.
California jurisdictions statewide must provide organics collection under SB 1383. Food-soiled pizza boxes can go in compostables carts.
Portland, Oregon updated its guidelines under the state’s Recycling Modernization Act. As of July 2025, empty pizza boxes with minimal grease are recyclable, while greasier boxes can go in yard waste bins.
King County, Washington accepts pizza boxes in composting, noting that food-soiled paper can be composted, though clean cardboard is better recycled.
For home composting, tear greasy cardboard into small pieces to speed up decomposition. The cardboard provides essential carbon to balance nitrogen-rich food scraps, improving compost quality.
How to Check Your Local Guidelines
Domino’s partnered with WestRock to launch Recycle My Pizza Box, which lets you enter your ZIP code to find specific recycling guidance for your area. The site also provides template language you can share with local recycling programs that haven’t yet updated their guidelines.
Advocate for Change
If your municipality still lists pizza boxes in the “no” pile, you can help drive change:
- Share the WestRock Grease & Cheese Study with your local recycling coordinator
- Point them to the Recycling Partnership’s free toolkit, which includes updated bin labels, mailers, and social media assets
- Reference the AF&PA’s industry guidance confirming that paper mills want these boxes back
The progress since 2020 shows that advocacy works. Communities from Anchorage to New York have updated their programs based on this research.
Eat happily—that box can become the next pizza box you receive, or any number of other paper products that keep valuable fiber in circulation.
Learn More
- WestRock Grease & Cheese Study
- Recycling Partnership Pizza Box Toolkit
- AF&PA Pizza Box Recycling Guidance
- Domino’s Recycle My Pizza Box
- The Recycling Partnership’s Community Recycling Data
Editor’s Note: Originally published on July 28, 2020, this article was substantially updated in February 2026.
The post Pizza Boxes Are More Recyclable Than Ever appeared first on Earth911.
https://earth911.com/how-to-recycle/yes-pizza-boxes-are-recyclable/
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