what do I do for trash bags now that I use cloth grocery bags

[siouxbee]

I used to use our grocery bags under the sink for trash. What do I do now that I'm using cloth bags at the store? I'm working toward zero waste, but I'm still purging and need trash bags. Do I have any options other than buying plastic bags?

[JR'smama777]

I've been getting a paper bag or two per visit to the grocery store and putting garbage in that. I'd like to get a pail to put the bags in for wet stuff, but haven't yet. But it hasn't been a problem.

[Best Feeling]

I haven't bitten the bullet on this one yet but I recently read that some people just skip the bags in garbage cans and wash the cans periodically. Not all of our garbage cans are washable (wooden) or non-bag friendly (metal, but with a large weave) but I'm going to try it on our washable cans.

[Ygle]

Originally Posted by Best Feeling

Not all of our garbage cans are washable (wooden) or non-bag friendly (metal, but with a large weave).

You can just reuse/keep a bag in there as a semi-permanent liner

[Narn]

I use empty cat food bags as bathroom trash cans.

[EnviroBecca]

Ask somebody who refuses to use real bags at the store to save his/her grocery bags for you. This is how I keep stocked up on blue bags, which we have to have for recycling.

You may not have the problem you anticipate. Non-blue plastic and paper shopping bags keep wending their way into my home somehow, even though I almost never take them from a store (one bag a month or less)--my bag-holder thingy is always crammed full, and I take a bag full of bags to be recycled several times a year! People bring us stuff in them, I grab them out of the trash at work, etc.

[BlessedOne]

I do still use big kitchen bags because my hubby is not on the same page as me when it comes to recycling. We are actually night and day......he is a part of the "pave the earth foundation" uggg!! I told you we were night and day!

So he has particular bags and he refuses to use any other.

What I did for taking my recycling in for a long time was use mesh laudry bags. What I do now is put all of my cardboard type of recycling in paper bags that I get from the store.

Also walmart recycles clean plastic bags......although I think they mean theres alone, but I sneak others in there too....lol

My local recycling center just started recycling plastic bags as well. I do not know if they recycle the ones that people bring stuff in or if you just bring in a bag of bags.

Everyone brought up great ideas for what to do....I kind of wish I could do the paper bag thing for my kitchen trash....but I do not see hubby going that route....he gets upset if I buy the wrong type of plastic kitchen bags!!!

I try to eliminate as much waist as I can but I realize that right now there are some things that are just going to have to go in a landfill. I am actually trying to design a way for trash to safely be eliminated. I have a thought....but I would have to do some more research on it.

[orangekoolaid]

do you get any packaged bags from your shopping- e.g. cereal, frozen food bag, etc. anything? kind of like the PP and their cat food bag.

also, neighbors, relatives- they can give you some bags?

[lilyka]

ask your neighbors.

"steal" them from the recycling bin. (our grocery store actually encourages you to grab some bags from the recycling bin to sack your groceries with if you forgot to bring your own.)

your still not creating any new waste.

[jadekat]

Has anyone tried Bio Bags? I was thinking about ordering some through my coop.

[Earthy Mama]

[QUOTE=lilyka;11362987

"steal" them from the recycling bin. (our grocery store actually encourages you to grab some bags from the recycling bin to sack your groceries with if you forgot to bring your own.)
[/QUOTE]

This is a great idea!

We recently ran out of standard trash bags, dp keeps asking me to pick some up, but I'm not going to. We too have an endless supply of grocery bags, even though I've been using real bags for 5+ years.

[hottmama]

We just use a small plastic trash can under our sink (it was from target's dorm room section) and go bag-less. We spray it out with the hose as needed. If you compost or have a garbage disposal it shouldn't get too yucky.

[AngelBee]

Great ideas! :

[grisaleen]

Whenever I'm out and about with my cloth diapers, I ask someone for a plastic bag for the soiled diapers. They always have more than they can use and that bag later becomes my trash bag. Like others, I use cat food bags. I quit using plastic grocery bags about a year and a half ago but I'm still going through the stockpile I had from before, when I refused to throw them out. I think you should just ask your neighbors to give you theirs, and put one of the those plastic bag holders on the outside of your house so that they can just drop them off.

[wombatclay]

My question exactly!

Though we've been going with the "small plastic can washed out as needed" approach. Our dds take their baths in a portable tub and we use their grey water for this sort of "washing". We have a spiffy new composter on the way though which should help us cut down even more on the garbage volume.

[catkendig]

Has anyone tried using the large paper bags you can buy to bag leaves in? I think places like Home Depot sell them. Maybe the cost isn't worth it, but thought I'd ask.

[Neth Naneth]

At the moment we are using the plastic bags that you can put your produce in, but eventually I don't want to use those eariler. Thankfully we don't make a lot of trash, 2-3 small grocery bags or the produce bags a week. Living in apartment our garbage has to be bagged before it goes in to the main complex dumpster, so I have to use something. I have used anything and everything that is otherwise going to be garbage (cereal bags, bread bags, tortilla bags, etc).