Contemplations of an Ordinary World: Eco friendly trash bags?

Thursday, July 26, 2007

Eco friendly trash bags?

A contradiction?

So I've nearly eliminated plastic bags from my life. I shop mainly at Trader Joe's and the local food coop (which I can walk to, an extra bonus!), so I use my own bags. Most places I do small errands and opt out of taking a bag. But now I've found myself "needing" bags around the house for putting trash in. I always used extra Target bags or other similar sized bags for lining my trash cans, and I'm down to my last one. Usually just one bag a week or so. Do I buy eco friendly biodegradable bags somewhere? Or is there something else I'm not thinking of? Anyone? Maybe Siel can help me here.

See a selection of eco friendly trash bags here

09/2011 Updated article here: Biodegradable & eco friendly trash bags.

For more green tips check out my other site, Idealist Cafe

Labels: environment, trash bags

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10 Comments:

At 11:15 PM, green LA girl said…

Ok -- You gotta be more specific. What do you "need" plastic bags for?
At 11:18 PM, Russ said…

I mean as trash can liners. I could do without if the trash was totally dry, but the kitchen trash tends to get a little funky from time to time. I compost my vegetable scraps, but inevitably there is gunk in the can and if there was no liner it'd be a real mess.
At 1:51 PM, green LA girl said…

Your first option's to use the plastic bags that unexpectedly crawl into the home -- i.e. plastic bags that bread comes in, etc. I've found that between this and the stuff that comes in via other people (i.e. guests who bring over wine in a plastic bag), I've never run out.

The 2nd best option is to buy biobags. You'll find that once you are buying them, you'll start to conserve their use even more -- perhaps by making less trash.

I am very curious about this non-food related "gunk" you're throwing away. What is this stuff? Share!
At 10:35 AM, Russ said…

I was at a loss to describe what actually went into the trash that needed a bag, so I called it "gunk". Let's see. So I compost most of my veggie scraps, I say most because I compost inside and sometimes if I've added too much too quick I throw a few scraps into the garbage instead, also if it's something I know won't break down, corn cobs would be a good example of that. Also, I generally don't use my garbage disposal, so when I scrape my plate that goes into the garbage. I keep things as leftovers, but there might be a little waste needing the garbage. Also, fruit pits go into the garbage, and they are sometimes slimy, if my cat made a mess of her food, remains of that go in the garbage, or if I've neglected some food for too long in the fridge and it goes bad or gets moldy, that goes in the trash. So all those things contribute to garbage "gunk" and require some sort of bag or liner. Siel, I do like the idea of user bags that have "crawled" into my apartment, bread bags for instance I use when cleaning the cat's litter box, other small bags I reuse as sandwich bags or the like.
At 12:34 PM, Anonymous said…

I'm facing the same dilemma and also lamenting the price of eco-trash bags, but I think it will be worth it to buy these if I have to, and maybe they'll also help me conserve more. We could probably all throw away less. I compost too, I throw in all my plant waste and then some (eggshells, cork, etc) even if will take 50 years to break down. Why not? composting everything you can still keeps these things out of landfills, and reduces the gunk in your trash can. The nutrients will eventually find their way to the soil.
At 6:54 PM, Anonymous said…

So I compost/recycle/etc also
but the "gunk" that goes into my
trash that requires some sort of
liner is MEAT scraps. You can't
compost meat or dairy scraps.
So cheese bits or meat trimmings have to go into the garbage. So do kitty poops from the kitty box.
These substances definitely are classified as "gunk" that REQUIRES
a liquid-proof liner in the garbage can. For that matter... i use liners in my kitty box. Where can you find eco friendly liners? and what are these things made of that is less toxic than store bought plastic products? Is there a waxed paper type bag/liner? curious...
At 10:30 PM, Russ said…

@anonymous - not sure about liners for litter box, but to answer your question about what is in these "eco bags" that is less toxic than other products. The ones I have bought are actually corn based, and according to the site are made of "GMO free starch, biodegradable polymer and other renewable resources." I can attest to the fact that they do biodegrade, in my container compost they disappeared within a couple weeks. See my other site for the actual product and a review at http://www.idealistcafe.com/resources-environmentally-friendly-product-reviews.html#household-eco. Also, as Siel suggested about, I can also get by using plastic bags that have infiltrated my home from other shopping...
At 8:13 AM, Anonymous said…

Thanks Russ.
I also just learned that land fills are "lined and sealed" so anything that gets put into them doesn't do a whole lot of biodegrading anyway because once they're "sealed" there's no light or oxygen getting to the stuff. I tell ya! There's so much i don't know that you could fill a book..
(or a library!) So i'm told that even if you put your non compostable/ non-recycleable trash in a biodegradeable bag, it's still going to a place that will never biodegrade! If that's true... then anything we put into the landfill is really just "toxic waste" that we're hoping to forget about for the next several centuries. This is worrisome!!!!
At 11:18 AM, Russ said…

Yea that is a problem, the landfills are so full that without the oxygen the composting effect doesn't really happen. It is indeed worrisome, but I just do what I can to minimize my waste, and even if something that should biodegrade doesn't because it's buried in the landfill, at least you can know that the production of that item had less impact on the environment. ie corn based bag vs. petroleum based bag. We can't fix the world on our own, but we can at least lessen our own impact.
At 7:58 PM, Anonymous said…

Thanks Russ,
good advice.
Will just try to do the best
i can.