"Green" garbage bags?

[JeanineTheOT]

Is there such a thing? I dream of ones made of biodegradable "plastic" or something like that. Any ideas?

[reducereuserecycle]

you can get bads that are made out of recycled plastic, but that is all I've ever used when it comes to Green Garbage Bags

[straighthaircurly]

http://www.biobagusa.com/

We use the small ones for our kitchen compost bin. I have never tried the larger garbage bags though. The compost size will leak if we leave wet stuff in them for more than a few days but I suspect the full size ones are a bit heartier.

[AuntLavender]

Seventh Generation trash bags are made from recycled plastic. Here are the stats:

100% recycled plastic (70% post-consumer, 30% pre-consumer):

http://seventhgeneration.com/our_pro...rash_bags.html

65% recycled plastic (45% post-consumer, 20% pre-consumer):

http://seventhgeneration.com/our_pro...chen_bags.html

[the_lissa]

There are biodegradable fake plastic ones that some municipalities allow for curb side compost pick up.

[Leta]

I have had this same dilemma. While I cannot answer your question, this is what I have done.

I have three lidless Rubbermaid storage totes on by back porch. Each tote holds two paper grocery bags. This is my recycling area. Two bags for paper, one for returnable bottles/cans, one for #1 & #2 plastic, one for glass, one for metal. For this stuff, we have curbside pickup, hence the paper bags, as we have a stupid rule that recyclables must be sorted AND in paper bags. :

Above this, on a nail, hangs a plastic bag that holds all of our plastic bread bags, etc., that we take to the grocery store's recycling bin.

Under our sink on the left is an old pot with a lid that we use for compost. We line this w/newspaper from the free swap meet paper that they throw on our front porch once a week. (Newspaper composts.)

Under our sink on the right, we have a small trash can for what is TRULY trash. Not much, since we compost and recycle. We also have small trash cans in the bedrooms, bathroom, and laundry room. These are small so that we can use plastic grocery bags as trash liners.

Since we use cloth handled bags for grocery shopping, we had a problem acquiring grocery bags for our recycling/trash needs.
I solved this by fishing a big ball of plastic bags out of the recycle bin in the lobby of the grocery store about once a month. At least these have been used at least once before they become my trash bags. The plastic bags that aren't appropriate for trash bag use go in my recycle bag.
For paper, when I take bottles back, I paw thru the left-behind paper bags at the store, and take a few that don't have stuff spilled in them. These are used three times- groceries to home, bottles returned, recyclables to curb- before they are finally recycled.

So even tho' my plastic trash bags aren't recycled, they are reused, and they are free. We NEVER have to buy trash bags. And since we don't create all that much trash, I think I am doing pretty well using this system.

[JeanineTheOT]

Leta, that is an awesome system! I need to get more efficient, like that!

[pinksprklybarefoot]

This really has been the sticking point around our place when it comes to reducing waste.

We live in an apartment. I could compost, but what would I do with the compost? We are in MN, which means growing season=3months/year. We could give some of it to my future MIL, but after that?

Our trash collector requires trash to be bagged. I would consider ignoring this rule and just dumping in the dumpster, but our neighbors are old, retired and nosy. Also the woman that owns the cafe that I (and DF on the side) work at owns the apt building, so I don't want to stir up trouble.

We are also pressed for space. Currently, the recycling is under the sink. One bin for cans/glass/plastic (which for some reason can be thrown in the recycle bins without bags) and one bin for paper. Trash goes in an antique trash can, which is WAY too small, but aesthetically pleasing and dog-proof. It *might* fit our needs if I can successfully compost, but probably not.

Before I moved the paper under the sink, we were using paper grocery bags to hold trash under the sink. I have cloth bags en route, so our supply of paper will be non-existent soon. Any plastic bags that we acquire have to go towards dog poop pick-up (2 walks/day).

I just can't find a way around buying plastic trash bags.

This just shouldn't be this difficult. :

[lucyem]

We used to buy cornstarch bags for trash and smaller ones for food. They were great. No idea where to get them now.

[reducereuserecycle]

i just saw something on tv about biodegradable bags, but they didn't give a brand or where to buy them

[UUMom]

Let me just back up a bit. A paper bag is biodegradeable, but if the ocntents of the bag are not, it kind of defeats the purpose, kwim? In most landfills, even biodegradeable contents wont' break down. If air get to the stuff, even food will stick around for a really long time. I always imagine future archeologists going through all the plastic diapers in hundreds of years hence and finding fresh DNA.

My strategies--

Buy things with as little packaging possible. Always bring your own bags. If you forget, and only bought a couple of things say "no bag'. Otherwise, get paper- as at least paper will break down. You can reuse them or shred them into your compost. If you have a choice of buying something in a plastic bottle or a glass bottle, choose glass and recycle it.

Compost all food scraps. If you live in an apartment, you can check out worm composting. http://www.savvygardener.com/Feature...omposting.html

Our town will recycle even carboard-- cereal boxes etc. But they didn't use to pick up curbside, and we had to bring it to the center ourselves. Now, thankfully, they do pick up. We have two recycle tubs we put out each week.

I am not there yet, but my goal is to produce as little trash as possible, as nothing breaks down in most landfills, no matter what kind of bags we use.

And here is something that might seem gross. I will often pick up my doggies poop with toilet paper (depends on the size of your dog, kwim?)or a rag and empty it into the toilet. We have a yard, and I guess you can't do this if you have to walk your dog.

Hang in there, and try to cut where you can.

[Beachlivnmom]

i was having this same conversation with my dh yesterday. I was curious as to if the trash bags biodegrate, or if there is a better way then with the plastic trash bag.

Leta Sounds as if you have a great system. I'll definitly try to use some of your ideas.

We are in a small condo so it seems overwhelming when we have recycling all over the Lanai. They don't have curbside pickup here. But now that there is a Costco they will pick up cardboard and Recycle if left beside the dumpster. I think all the big boxes from Costco were filling the landfill so now they get fined if there is cardboard in a dumpster.

[AngelBee]

:

[cafechi]

LOVE YOUR POST!

i have a question regarding the compost thought, do you just through wet foods, etc in the compost bin? then what do you do??? i'm confused here. i do not have a big garden, it's a very very small one. what are some things that are compost-able?

i would love to try this and reduce our waste.

as for recycling, i'm good on that. i have 2 buckets for recycles and newspaper and then i dump all that into our big recycle can that gets pick up once a week.

Originally Posted by Leta

I have had this same dilemma. While I cannot answer your question, this is what I have done.

I have three lidless Rubbermaid storage totes on by back porch. Each tote holds two paper grocery bags. This is my recycling area. Two bags for paper, one for returnable bottles/cans, one for #1 & #2 plastic, one for glass, one for metal. For this stuff, we have curbside pickup, hence the paper bags, as we have a stupid rule that recyclables must be sorted AND in paper bags. :

Above this, on a nail, hangs a plastic bag that holds all of our plastic bread bags, etc., that we take to the grocery store's recycling bin.

Under our sink on the left is an old pot with a lid that we use for compost. We line this w/newspaper from the free swap meet paper that they throw on our front porch once a week. (Newspaper composts.)

Under our sink on the right, we have a small trash can for what is TRULY trash. Not much, since we compost and recycle. We also have small trash cans in the bedrooms, bathroom, and laundry room. These are small so that we can use plastic grocery bags as trash liners.

Since we use cloth handled bags for grocery shopping, we had a problem acquiring grocery bags for our recycling/trash needs.
I solved this by fishing a big ball of plastic bags out of the recycle bin in the lobby of the grocery store about once a month. At least these have been used at least once before they become my trash bags. The plastic bags that aren't appropriate for trash bag use go in my recycle bag.
For paper, when I take bottles back, I paw thru the left-behind paper bags at the store, and take a few that don't have stuff spilled in them. These are used three times- groceries to home, bottles returned, recyclables to curb- before they are finally recycled.

So even tho' my plastic trash bags aren't recycled, they are reused, and they are free. We NEVER have to buy trash bags. And since we don't create all that much trash, I think I am doing pretty well using this system.