A USE FOR TEA LEAVES.

Thames Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 10286, 6 January 1917, Page 4

A USE FOR TEA LEAVES.

A .gentleman* engaged in. the chemic-! al trade„ hints at the money which might be made out of used tea-leave® (says a writer in. >an exchange), whose only employment .now, e-n route to the ashpit, is to keep the dust down when the floor is swept. Expended" tealeaves are rich in tannin—most people •know 'that 'from- experience—eh'Loro- ' .fc)jhyiLt, icaffeiine, and .other, valuable products, which are not easily removed by the ordinaiy methods of. iiv fusion. It is calculated that over 836 million pounds weight of tealeases were committed to the dustbin in England last year ; iand taking' this His representing: 10 1 per cent, of tannin., which is worth 2s 9d per pound, it ds clear that money might be gained :by its extraction. Even one-fifth, of tike .total of waste leaveis, yielding onity ■& per cent." of tawniin, a value of albout .£42,0,000. The irritatiniai part of these revelations 1 , of potential wealth always lies in. the . present lack of machinery by which tihey could ibe utilised. In the present case, however, the earing of tealeiaves, say, for <a week at a time, could easily be effected*, and ailil that is needed .is an organns&tion for their regular collection. A fortune obviously awaits some enterprirf-nisr person possessingl a modest capital to start with..