My Solution to Garbage Bags....

I haven’t purchased plastic garbage bags in many years. Before last year, if I absolutely had to take a bag from the grocery store (instead of bringing my own reusables), I would ask for a paper bag, because I used those paper bags as my trash bags.

Within the past year, the grocery stores that I usually shop from in my city in the valley of Los Angeles, just stopped carrying paper bags altogether. Slowly but surely, it became impossible to get a paper bag from any store other than Whole Foods or Amazon, and I refused to take plastic bags every time.

When using paper bags as trash bags was no longer an option, I finally realized that I had 2 extra large plastic reusable grocery bags, and that I could use one for my trash and one for my recycling. So, for the past year, I have been putting all of my trash into one and all of my recycling (which is always rinsed before going in) into the other bag. About every third day, I take these two bags down to my black and blue bins and simply dump the contents into the appropriate bin.

This has been working out just fine. Occasionally the trash bag will get a little gross and smelly, but when it does, I simply clean it out in my sink, leave it outside to hang and dry, and start anew. Also, since I finally found a community compost center, less and less food is going into the trash bag, so it mostly gets filled with things like plastic wrap and other non-food trash.

I’m very happy with this solution. I’ve had no problem dumping my trash this way. I do not waste money on plastic garbage bags, and I do not create needless plastic waste. This works out great for me.

When I lived in a larger community that contracted with a commercial company that provided large bins with lids that were picked up with mechanical arms, I didn’t use trash bags. What I did though, was to put smaller pieces of trash inside bigger pieces of trash so things were a bit contained and the likelihood of things blowing out was reduced. I now live in a smaller rural community that has it’s own city garbage truck that doesn’t have mechanical arms for picking up lidded bins. Instead a city worker rides on each side in the back of the truck and steps off the truck to pick up trash in specific bags required by the city. City rules require the trash inside their required bags also be in bags. Probably so when the feral cats and at large dogs tear open the bags, it doesn’t all come tumbling out. I still do the same thing of stuffing my smaller pieces of trash into bigger pieces of trash (like cash register receipts, etc, go into the plastic bag that the apples came in). I don’t recycle cash register receipts because they contain BPA or its replacement, BPS, which is no better environmentally/healthwise. I don’t have a lot of trash though because I rarely eat processed food, so very little food packaging, I compost my food waste, I’m a single older person and I just don’t buy lots of stuff, and I use reusable canvas bags for grocery shopping. If I need a bag to put garbage in (aside from the city required bag), I get a plastic grocery bag from my parents or a friend who drives me crazy with the amount of plastic they use. Let’s just all use the waste packaging we do get with things we purchase to hold our other trash items.

While I like the sentiment, I don’t think this would be a good idea. Firstly, because the inside of the dumpsters/outside garbage cans will be filthy and require daily cleaning otherwise you face terrible stains, foul odors, and attracting vermin and other animals to your dumpster/or wherever you keep it. Secondly, we have predatory animals in my area so we cannot leave our dumpsters outside unlocked or without a covered storage of sorts. This said, why it’s still doable, it would be a lot of extra work and some people/families may not have the time to do all the extra steps to get to their garbage can regularly and keep it clean daily. Also, some areas require garbage to be bagged and put on the side walk for pick up while other areas still have a physical person take out your garbage bag one-by-one, so going bagless would require them to lift the whole garbage bin, which may not be possible for areas that require bigger garbage cans or that don’t have the arm lifting dumpster trucks. I’m sure there are a myriad of other reasons and nuances why going completely bag-less with garbage would not work for many areas or may cause more harm than good. I think the best solution would be to have strong biodegradable garbage/dumpster bags that maybe are reinforced so they don’t rip too soon. I’m sure a lot of people would be willing to pay a little extra for good biodegradable garbage bags.

Our city requires all garbage to be bagged and tied. In other words the bags must be closed in a way that keeps them closed. Our recycling goes loose into the bin for pickup. Considering how often there is loose recycling on the street and in yards after the truck dumps that bin I dread what would happen with loose garbage. Also, on 100 plus degree days the garbage stinks! The bags help to contain the smell until pickup day. Sorry, while less plastic is a great thing to strive for, loose trash is not the answer.

Loose trash is a potential mess to environment as others have stated. My goal instead is to reduce trash output by recycling/reusing if possible. I use paper grocery bags within my larger plastic kitchen bag so I can dump the filled paper bag but reuse the outer plastic bag another week or two if not soiled. Also use compostable plastic trash bags in other rooms and try to fill them to the max by consolidating trash before discarding. Less waste, less trash bags, less to throw out.

It’s not so much a question of the actual garbage bin “needing” a bag as it is about collecting the garbage in the house and transporting it to the garbage bin outside. I live by myself and create very little garbage on a weekly basis. When I do have refuse from the kitchen, I put that in a bag to throw into the garbage can. I usually use paper grocery bags unless the item being tossed is wet (e.g. I made bone broth and had to throw out the bones and vegetables) and I’ll put that in plastic bags.
I think the reason for garbage bags is to keep the indoor waste receptacles clean until they can be thrown into the garbage outside

I wouldn’t mind being able to do that at all one less thing us to have to buy just to throw away! Not to mention it’s impact on the environment! Unfortunately our city requests at all trash in the bin be in a bag unless it is recycling or yard waste. I’m almost surprised that the city hasn’t yelled at us already because my husband is always tossing this or that in the trash bin without a bag. I would love to find a decomposable trash bag though.

I like the idea because at the landfill they grind up everything including the bags into the earth, why do we need one more plastic bag in the earth.