In recent years, many cities around the world have banned plastic trash bags in an effort to reduce waste. These plastic bags are taking over our planet! The traditional kind that end up in landfills can take years before they decompose, harming the environment. And even if they are properly disposed of, they can still leak harmful chemicals into the ground and water. Plastic trash bags are also a danger to wildlife. Animals often mistake them for food, and if they ingest them, they can suffer from malnutrition or even starve to death. In addition, plastic trash bags can clog drainage systems and cause flooding.
The carbon footprint of each trash bag can vary depending on many factors, including what it’s made from and how long it took to get here. Some estimates say that plastic production could be responsible for over 56 gigatons of carbon by ! This has a significant impact on greenhouse gas emissions. In short, there are many good reasons to avoid using them.
Fortunately, there are things we can do to reduce our impact on the planet. One simple but effective way is to switch to eco-friendly trash bags. These include options like compostable bags and biodegradable bags. Compostable trash bags are made from plant-based materials like cornstarch or potato starch, and they can be safely composted in a commercial facility. Biodegradable plastic bags are still made of plastic but have microorganisms added to the bags which break down the material over time. Many companies are now switching to biodegradable and environmentally friendly trash bags to help protect the environment.
In this blog post, we will take a detailed look at biodegradable trash bags, compostable trash bags, and which companies are the best option to purchase them from.
With the increasing awareness of the damaging effects of plastic on the environment, many people are looking for ways to reduce their reliance on single-use plastics. One way to do this is to switch to compostable trash bags. These bags are made from 100% plant-based materials and are designed to break down quickly under certain conditions, such as high heat and moisture. While they may not be suitable for all types of trash, they can be a great alternative to plastic bags for things like food scraps and yard waste. And, since they break down into organic matter, they can actually be beneficial for the environment. So, if you're looking for a way to reduce your plastic usage, consider switching to compostable trash bags.
Biodegradable trash bags are a better alternative for the environment because they break down much more quickly than regular garbage bags. For instance, it takes about three months for biodegradable garbage bags to decompose in hot conditions and six at cooler temperatures with little moisture present. But biodegradable bags aren’t always as environmentally friendly and sustainable for our planet. They're made from similar petrochemical-based materials, only with compounds added that cause them to disintegrate gradually in presence of light or oxygen - often resulting in a sludge full of toxic chemicals!
Compostable plastics are made from natural materials, but they will not break down on their own. To compost these items, they must be ground up and mixed in with other organic material at a commercial composting facility that has the appropriate machinery. It can take anywhere from 180 days to one year for these items to biodegrade completely. Still, they are a more environmentally-friendly option than traditional plastic bags. Compostable plastics will not add to the growing problem of plastic pollution, and they can provide nutrients for plants once they have broken down. For these reasons, it is worth taking the time to properly compost compostable plastics.
Compostable and biodegradable are often used interchangeably. However, there is a major difference between the two. Biodegradable bags are typically still regular plastic bags that contain microorganisms to remove plastic particles. These micro-plastics can take a while to disappear. Whereas compostable bags are created from compostable materials like corn starch and contain no harmful substances, making them a much more environmentally friendly option. When choosing between the two, it is important to consider the intended use for the bag. If it will be used for compostable material, then a compostable bag is the better choice. However, if there are no commercial composting facilities available, a biodegradable bag may be the only option. In any case, it is always best to avoid plastic bags whenever possible and opt for reusable bags instead and take a step towards a greener earth.
It's no secret that our planet is in trouble. We are producing more plastic than ever before, and a large percentage of it is ending up in our oceans where it is harming marine life. Thankfully, more and more brands are now offering fully compostable trash bag options that can help reduce the impact of plastic pollution. These products are made from sustainable materials that break down naturally, so there is no need to worry about them harming the environment. In addition, they come in different sizes to suit different types of waste, making them perfect for use at home or in the office. So next time you need to buy trash bags, make the environmentally friendly choice and go for compostable bags. You'll be doing your part to help save our planet. Let's take a look at some of these sustainable brands and how they're playing their part in reducing plastic pollution.
Green earth is dedicated to a greener life with compostable trash bags. Their trash bags are 100% compostable and made from plants. The company has a wide variety of products, all of which are made from sustainable and organic materials. Green earth produces biodegradable and compostable bags that are designed to reduce plastic waste and help the environment. The company's mission is to provide consumers with eco-friendly alternatives to traditional plastic bags.
Starting from only $20, Green earth's best compostable trash bags are available online and in stores across the United States. The green earth compostable garbage bags are made to the latest standards set by ASTM D, which is an international certification that can be found in both home and commercial settings. The USA BPI organization has also certified these products as being successfully used for landfills across America. They can be used to safely dispose of wet trash, kitchen trash, and organic waste.
Evolution's new, eco-friendly trash bags are the first of their kind in North America. The material used for these products has been UL ECOLOGO Certified and EPA compliant and comes from a closed loop recycling process which makes them superior quality as opposed to other brands on offer right now. Evolution trash bags are manufactured with the highest percentage of PCR (Post-consumer recycled) material, making them superior in quality!
Evolution's White Rhino Super Tough Trash Bags are made with 94% PCR LLDPE, making them environmentally friendly and sustainable. The exclusive closed-loop recycling process allows our trash bags to be manufactured at the highest quality!
Seventh Generation is committed to providing environmentally friendly alternatives for plastic trash bags through innovation. So you don't have to worry about your wet food scraps and food waste and rest assured.
The Seventh Generation Tall Kitchen Trash Bag is made with 100% recycled plastic and offers a slightly higher level of sustainability compared to normal plastic bags. Since it's made from 100% recycled plastic and 70% post consumer content added, you have peace-of-mind knowing your home's solid waste won't contribute to plastic pollution as badly as normal plastic does.
Plastno's 13-gallon compostable trash bags offer a thoughtful solution for your home and the environment. These bags are crafted from renewable, plant-based materials such as cornstarch, Polylactic Acid (PLA), and Polybutylene Adipate Terephthalate (PBAT), minimizing your fossil fuel footprint. These materials are not only non-toxic but also certified compostable. Whether you're composting at home or using commercial facilities, these bags are guaranteed to break down quickly and cleanly, transforming into organic matter without leaving any harmful residue. Plus, the packaging itself is 100% plastic-free and fully recyclable, underscoring Plastno's commitment to sustainability.
Using Plastno's 13-gallon compostable bags is as easy as using traditional plastic bags—fill them up, tie them off, and dispose of them either in your regular trash or on your compost heap. To ensure the bags maintain their integrity, it's recommended to drain any excess liquid from wet waste. For optimal performance, store these bags in a cool, dry place; they have a shelf life of approximately 12 months. This way, you avoid overstocking and can maximize the benefits of these sustainable, planet-friendly trash bags.
Hefty is a company that is dedicated to helping with litter control and making the community cleaner. Their trash bags are compostable and they’ve been developed for municipal and industrial facilities collection programs.
Hefty also offers a variety of other sustainable products, including compostable garbage bags and recycling bins. Their products are made from recycled materials and they are committed to using sustainable practices in their manufacturing process. Hefty is a company that cares about the environment and is dedicated to making a difference in the community.
Hefty Compostables Small Kitchen Scrap Bags make it easy to contain your food scraps in a countertop receptacle. The small, transparent certified compostable bags are sized just large enough for coffee grounds or other commonly composted items so they'll stay put without getting wet when you set them out at night before closing up shop on the day's cooking operations! These garbage bags are fully compostable and offer 100% satisfaction guarantee.
Hippo Sak® is committed to providing environmentally friendly products that have a low carbon footprint. All of their items are made in the United States with high standards for environmental protection and quality, which make them perfect if you're looking forward to reducing your own personal pollution while still getting top-quality results. Their products have been designed to eliminate the use of harmful chemicals and to reduce waste, meaning that they are much better for the environment than traditional options of garbage bags. In addition, their manufacturing process is efficient and uses renewable energy, further reducing their carbon footprint. If you're looking for a way to reduce your impact on the environment, Hippo Sak® is a great option.
Hippo Sak's Plant Based Tall Kitchen Bags are not only efficient, but they also reduce carbon emissions greatly. For every 1 kg (2.2 lbs) of sugar cane used to create these trash bags, they reduce CO2 emissions by 2kg while also saving on fossil fuels! In addition, the manufacturing process for these bags uses far less energy than the process for making traditional plastic bags. As a result, Hippo Sak's Plant Based Tall Kitchen Bags are a more environmentally-friendly option that can help to reduce your carbon footprint.
BioBag is the leading provider of organic waste collection bags made from plant starches, vegetable oils & compostable polymers for residential curbside recycling. All their raw materials are sourced locally and their product range covers all major types of food scraps including meats, fish, veggies and all kinds of kitchen trash. Not only that, but their products are biodegradable products institute certified and can help you reduce your yard waste greatly.
BioBags are the perfect storage solution for your groceries, and they come with a guarantee. The Bio Bag bottom seal prevents leaking and you can also rely upon these certified compostable bags because they are non-GMO Project verified by rigorous criteria that avoided any contact producing GMO material - so you don't have to worry about cross contamination either way (even if there's condensation).
Green Paper Products are committed to providing the highest quality eco-friendly products, with a mission of developing innovative solutions that increase sustainability goals and divert organic materials from landfills. Their certified compostable paper goods can be planted into gardens or used as animal bedding; their plant based makeup does not contain any petrochemicals which would otherwise contaminate soil for miles around!
EcoSafe® Biodegradable Trash Bags are made from corn, which is regrown annually. This formula provides for an eco-friendly and sustainable product vs petroleum plastic bags! In addition to being certified compostable by BPI - meaning they break down into soil within 90 days of disposal--Eco safes biodegradable trash bags also meet all international composting standards so you can rest easy knowing your purchase supports recycling programs while keeping our environment clean.
Plastic pollution is a huge problem, and it’s only going to get worse if we don’t take action. That’s why biodegradable trash bags are so important – they help reduce the amount of plastic that ends up in our landfills and oceans. When you’re shopping for trash bags, make sure you look for greener alternatives. There are plenty of great options available, so there’s no excuse not to do your part. One way to make sure you’re buying biodegradable trash bags is to look for the certified compostable label. This means that the biodegradable trash bags work and will break down into nutrient-rich compost within a few months.
Alternatively, you can also look for trash bags made from recycled materials. These bags are often made from post-consumer plastics, which means they’re less damaging to the environment than virgin plastics. Whatever option you choose, make sure you avoid single-use plastic trash bags. They’re bad for the environment and they’re not worth the convenience that is harming the environment.
Compostable. Biodegradable. Organic. There are many terms to know and sometimes it feels like too much, which is why I’m here to help and make it easy for you. Compostable trash bags, compost bags, and compostable zip-top bags are great and great for YOU! They’re for everyone whether or now you have a compost pile or not.
And if you’re already sold, here are the ones I’m using… please use this code to save some money for the coffee it sounds like you (and I) need!
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But if you have some questions, a little time to devote to a nice conversation, or just want to understand better, I got you…
If you are looking for more details, kindly visit Because We Care.
A little background. You know I hate talking about plastic. I don’t like single-use plastic, but I equally don’t like getting into the weeds about it with people. Plastic is complicated; I get it!
So while I’m not vehemently anti-plastic, I highly discourage the use of single-use plastics. Besides water bottles, I find the biggest source of them in our daily lives, is bags – zip-top bags and trash bags (big and small). But like, life without those is a whole heck of a lot more difficult.
If you’ve been around me for more than about six minutes, you know I’m obsessed with reusable, silicone bags (see my love story Stasher Bag review for more on that). They single-handedly let my family replace the plastic baggies (a big part of our kitchen plastic replacements), but trash bags (yes, single-use plastic ones) have been a mainstay in our home this whole time.
UNTIL NOW!!!
Sacramento County recently switched to collecting our food waste in our green waste bin – yep, the city is composting.
While we plan to continue using our compost machine, there are some food items we can’t put in the machine. There are also some days when we just have too much food for our little machine, so we’re absolutely taking advantage of the city’s organic waste collection.
On top of that, I needed an easy place to store food waste and many local friends were asking about how they were supposed to organize their food waste (yes, we organize our trash now!). And the answer, obviously, is compostable trash bags.
See many more sustainable kitchen products here!
Nope! Compostable bags are not just for compost.
So here’s the follow up to that initial question. Are compostable bags for you? Yes!
Though compostable bags are the only bag you can use for collecting food waste, they’re also a wonderful alternative to standard trash bags and ziptop bags.
Instead of sending a piece of single-use plastic to the landfill every time your trash is collected, now you’re sending it all neatly in a bag that will break down in just a few weeks!
If you’re wondering about your recycling, I have the unfortunate responsibility of telling you that you’ll need to check locally.
After living in Sacramento for two years, we learned that we weren’t supposed to be using plastic bags around our recycling and they may have just been added to the trash pile. INSERT UGLY CRY HERE.
Since compostable and recyclable are far from the same thing, it’s probably best not to use any bag with your recycling (paper bags are ok). See more recycling basics here. But, again, check locally.
They are not made from plastic! Under NO circumstance is plastic compostable, biodegradable, or anything of the sort. Since we don’t want plastic going into compost (used at home and by the city to nourish plants and crops), an alternative is in order.
Enter: HoldOn. Available in small and standard trash bag sizes, you can have a compostable bag for any trash or composting bin in your home. The zip-top bags also come in sandwich size and gallon size.
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Science time (info from their website)…
These bags are made from PBAT (a biodegradable polymer that requires less oil during production and breaks down quickly, without emitting methane), polylactic acid (monomer derived from organic, renewable source – requires less energy and emits less greenhouse gas), and cornstarch.
And since we’re on the subject of bags, yes, HoldOn makes ziploc compostable bags (available in gallon and sandwich sizes). Ok, sorry – Ziploc is a brand name, but that’s what we all call them – it’ slike Kleenex and Chapstick!
These are the perfect replacement for your standard box of plastic bags – great for food and anything else life likes baggies for!
These bags also go by all the same guidelines – meaning they’ll break down sooner than the plastic counterpart, so keep an eye on them when using them to store food, but they’re up to the standard everyday use.
Cutting off the zip part will speed up the composting process!
Yes. So if you know even just a little bit about composting, you’ll know that municipal composting and home composting are NOT the same thing. Municipal composting can handle a lot more items than your typical backyard compost heap.
I’m happy to be able to tell you, however, that these HoldOn bags are fine for both types of composting.
HoldOn bags are TUV Certified Home Compostable and BPI Certified Industrially Compostable.
As Sacramento County is figuring out the organic waste collection, their site said we could only use bags that meet ASTM D standards. Since I have no idea what any of these standards means, I asked HoldOn…
The BPI and TUV certifications are both more stringent than the ASTMD requirements, so WE ARE GOOD! And you are too!
Ok. So here’s something to remember. Compostable bags are designed to break down quickly (weeks in ideal conditions), so remember that the same bag can’t sit in your pail or can for months and weeks on end without starting to deteriorate. I mean, that’s why you wanted it in the first place, remember?
But, if you’re wondering if they’re durable enough to handle trash and food waste, so far, I’ve found them to be very durable and the feel a lot like a plastic trash bag!
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Want some organization tips for small home living? Check out these posts of kitchen appliance organization, how to store reusable bags, seasonal clothing storage, and mail and paperwork organization! If you’re working to downsize your closet, see my step-by-step tips for a minimalist wardrobe (that feels anything but small).
You’ll also want to read how we’re making our home more sustainable; my go to clean home cleaning products; and how to declutter your mailbox!
For more information, please visit Compostable PBAT bin liners.