3 Reasons to Ditch Traditional Plastic Garbage Bags

[Omaha Steve]

This is not spam. It is about an environmentally friendly product. These are what Marta and I use.

https://shop.freetheocean.com/products/compostable-tall-kitchen-garbage-bags-13-count

[Hekate]

1. I'll give you the 5th Rec. Will Costco carry them? Does your grocery store? I well remember the days before garbage bags

For those of you who don’t know, let me tell you that home garbage cans stank and got maggots. I do not miss that at all.

[jimfields33]

3. I remember when grocery stores only had brown paper bags.

Until the loons said plastic bags were best for the environment. What an embarrassment that everyone believed this.

[Hekate]

16. I'm fine with paper bags, and prefer them for many reasons when shopping. But for tossing food waste...

Brown bags fall apart. Newspaper wrapped around wet or damp waste falls apart. And the aforementioned metal garbage cans picked up once a week stank to high heaven. I can’t tell you how much I did not miss that.

[EarnestPutz]

17. Yep. "Save a tree" and people believed it. Plastic bags cost a fraction of what paper grocery bags cost.

[2naSalit]

24. Yup.

[Omaha Steve]

5. We had to pay to get them shipped

It was $4.95 to ship TWO boxes. Shipping was the same as one.

Here is where to ask your questions: [e-mail]

I hope that helps.

[Hekate]

14. Thanks

[Joinfortmill]

18. Im 75 and never had maggots.

[Hekate]

22. Not inside the house, I'm quite sure. But a week's accumulation in the outdoors, even with a lid, well...

[Joinfortmill]

28. Yup, quite possible.

[bahboo]

2. Bookmarking...thanks...

[FakeNoose]

4. Thanks I will consider these, even though they're expensive

In Pittsburgh we are required to use DOUBLE bagging because the standard plastic bags are so flimsy, they rip when the collectors pick them up. That's not good for the environment either. I haven't seen anything like this product in our grocery stores.

[maxsolomon]

6. I've been ordering them from the dreaded Amazon for a couple years.

In bulk they're not that expensive, but luckily I can recycle a lot and keep food scraps/yard waste out of my garbage. I only use 1 bag/week. I have a 20-gallon can and I rarely fill it.

[mcar]

7. We switched to compostable garbage bags a few years ago

There are several varieties on Amazon. They are more expensive but it's worth it to us.

Also use the laundry and toilet bowl cleaning sheets. We've been working to cut back on our purchases of single-use plastics.

[wiggs]

8. Thx for the reminder. Just ordered on Amazon. nt

[1WorldHope]

9. Thank you Omaha Steve.

I just ordered a box. I have also used Freddy's washer sheets for about 6 months now and I love them. I love this planet I don't want it to die.

[NickB79]

11. Sorry, but nothing breaks down in weeks in a landfill

These bags are compostable, IF you empty them out and put them in a hot compost pile or industrial composting facility. There, the heat, moisture and bacterial activity will in fact break them down. But no one is doing that in the real world. In the real world, they get chucked in landfills, still holding the contents they were stuffed with.

Will them compost in a landfill though? Not really. It's an anaerobic environment, where heavy compaction limits water infiltration and oxygen availability. You can dig up newspapers from landfills that are decades old and still readable, despite being made of regular paper.

These bags will take decades, if not longer, to decompose in real life.

The only real solution is to stop consuming so much stuff we don't need, to be honest. But that would tank our global economy, so no one mentions that.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

13. On the other hand, when these escape they won't form a plastic island in the Pacific.

[Shermann]

29. But but I heard we can bio-engineer super bacteria to solve every environmental problem!

Waste management companies suck at composting and even recycling. Landfills also have liners to keep water out and contaminants in. That's the opposite of composting, but necessary due to the toxic metals and other crap.

Compostable bags can work if they are sorted prior to recycling and then composted correctly along with other biodegradables. But I don't believe we're doing any of that today, the sorting process is hopelessly broken and it's all a big mess.

[dsp3000]

12. What's this thing made of? Is it just greenwashed plastic?

That's what it looks like to me. Even if it is compostable it is only good for putting compost in and then taking it to a compost pile. Otherwise if you use it as a regular trash bag you a re just filling it up with noncompostable things

[iluvtennis]

19. They are a bit pricey, but am ordering some...got to do something to help the environment for my/other kids' future. nt

[Renew Deal]

20. Social media influencer

[58Sunliner]

21. I use compostable bags as well.

I get mine at Publix.

[littlemissmartypants]

23. ❤️

[Native]

25. I've read that these bags don't break down in landfills, so I use the paper grocery bags I get at the grocery store, &

once I've accumulated a decent supply, I switch to bringing my own bags until I run low on the paper bags. The paper grocery bags fit nicely into a small rectangular shaped plastic bin. I don't have to worry about odors because we also compost almost all of our food waste. Our large county supplied garbage bins rarely get stinky because little to no food is disposed of. Our trash is picked up twice a week, and we generate only one small bag or two of trash each week. Also, whenever I'm shopping at stores that don't have paper bags (department stores, etc.), I tell them I don't need a bag. And even if I've got several bags worth of stuff, I simply take it out to my car (where I have bags) in the shopping cart and bag them carside. Beats walking around with large bags when you're trying to shop.

[DoBW]

35. I would love ...

... love to get a Lomi. just can't fork out the dough right now, though my tax return....hmmm.

[Native]

36. i looked into that, but id fill that thing up in no time, and ive never found a filter set up that truly worked,

and I don't want to have to buy the microbes. I fill my countertop bin almost daily, and I have a tumbler on my patio. no electricity involved, and no smell!

[Bev54]

26. We use compostable garbage bags for all our food waste in most cities in Canada

It goes to a composter or in some cases an anaerobic digester. All our paper, cans, glass, cardboard and clear plastics go to a recycling bin and then we have very little "garbage" that we still use plastic bags for. I find that I have very little garbage to put out.

[Native]

37. you are so lucky. we're in DeSantisland, and our county doesnt even recycle glass.

[DoBW]

27. I'm into my 3rd box. .. a tip...

if the green bag gets too wet at bottom while in container, it won't hold, and all the crap will fall out when you go to pull bag out. I found if i fold a brown paper grocery bag (my bin is rectangular), then use the brown bag to line the bottom of 13 gal green bag. It all stays intact. I've reduced my plastic use

[TexasDem69]

30. Having read the posts here

These bags seem more expensive than regular bags, and it sounds like they actually don’t make any real difference at the landfill, and they also apparently leak/fall apart, so what’s the actual benefit of buying these?

[edisdead]

33. We use the paper grocery bags for can liners.

our kitchen garbage bins are plastic so they rinse out real easy

[Emile]

31. Plastic is an oil based product.

[edisdead]

32. we use paper grocery bags

We also use reusable grocery bags but we do get paper bags from time to time to use for garbage too

[Ms. Toad]

34. These may well be better than plastic bags, but they are made from petroleum (contrary to the first point).

Our 100% compostable bags are made from biodegradable polyester, which includes PLA and PBAT. PLA is derived from corn while PBAT is made from Petroleum.

https://www.superbioworld.com/pages/faqs

Someone in the thread commented that plastic was an oil-based product - and I was about to correct them that these weren't plastic, but I try to fact-check before I post. So I was surprised to see the plant-based claim contradicted in the company's FAQ.

[FreeState]

38. Thanks for that

We were using Glad bags for years but just switched thanks to this thread to these plant based bags (they are about $0.02 more than what we were paying:

https://a.co/d/fWacOBR