apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Everytime I go grocery shopping I'd just pack 1 or 2 plastic bags (I always pack meat in plastic, in case of leaks). Depending on how many garbage cans you have and how often you shop that should keep you well-stocked. That was you're still mostly using your own bags and helping the environment but not being forced to buy garbage bags. I think you'd still come out ahead.

If you pull out all recyclable and compostable material, use existing packaging for non-compostable material (meat products for example, using the wrap it came in), you can generally avoid using a liner at all. Also smaller trash cans are easily washed every few weeks in the bathtub if there is any leakage. We haven't used trash bags of any kind for over a year now, with no complaints/problems.

I've used the biodegradable type of bag a couple of times. My advice? Dump the trash every night or you'll regret it. They're really flimsy.

Personally, I haven't come across this problem because inevitably I forget my canvas bags at least once a month and so haven't run out of plastic yet. I think I might continue like that because no liner would work fine in the bathroom and even kitchen (thank goodness for greenwaste!) but no way in hell am I not bagging the kitty litter.

I admit it- I use my reusable bags everywhere I go- except for Target. They have the best plastic bags- and since I don't shop there too often, and when I do I usually only get a few bags, it works out just right to line my little trash cans. And with a potty-training 2 year old boy, I need a lined trash can. It's not any more green for me to waste gallons of water cleaning my trash cans every day... So essentially I've just made the choice to get a FEW plastic bags (the best, sturdiest ones), and use those for the traditional trash can liner.

We don't use a liner at all. We are fortunate enough to have a garbage disposal (and to lazy to compost...yet. New house). We use a 7 gallon office wastebasket (the kind you'd have in your cube) and minimize the wet garbage with the disposal, then empty the kitchen garbage frequently. We wash the kitchen wastebasket when it gets icky (about once a week) and I have to hose out the trash pickup can about once a month. Not having a liner really makes you think about what you are throwing in the trash.

Every once in a blue moon you can shop without your cloth bag if you want a set of plastic bags to get by for a couple of months. Or you can suck it up and get biodegradable can liners. Eco-products has BioBags, and there are a number of alternatives that can be picked up from a quick search. They are flimsy so don't position them in a can so that your garbage is suspended above the ground and pulling on the bag.

A better alternative which you are probably working on is to reduce your consumption so that you don't have that much refuse to go to the dump. Compost, recycle, and above all acquire things with little packaging or things that will last a while. Good luck.

I manage to forget my cloth bags from time to time leaving plenty of plastic.

Biodegradable bags might not be worth the expense, since most landfills aren't designed to speed up decomposition. Read more here.

It doesn't look like there is an easy solution to this one.

A disposal isn't actually the green-friendly solution. While I don't compost, I do throw the bio-refuse away in a brown paper bag, which will break down faster than plastic.

due to BYOBag, i've also run out of the plastic trash liners. but despite my efforts otherwise, i still seem to end up with errant plastic bread bags or produce bags, which work fine for that wet kitchen trash. chip bags, cereal bags, etc. would all work fine too. sure, they're a little smaller and need to sit on the counter instead of being a trash liner, but it's an option.

one other option is to use the plastic grocery sack to carry your waste to the garbage, and then dump it out of the bag so you can re-use it (provided the garbage wasn't too nasty).

Reduce, recycle, reuse.

I use grocery bags to line my trashcans, too. As a single person, I probably generate 1.25 grocery bags of trash per week at home.

I'd like to think that is a fairly small amount as I try to buy products with minimal packaging or in bulk and reuse containers of all shapes and sizes.

I think I've bought one box of plastic trashcan liners and 2 boxes of ziploc bags in four years. It always seemed silly to emphasize less grocery bags when packaging seems like a bigger problem. And now, I kinda wonder how much energy/waste is being made by all of those new reusuable bags that are being sold. And what the profit margins are for those reusable bags, too.

I wish our city would let us put out trash without plastic garbage bags. I always have more than enough cardboard boxes that I could use to hold the trash if it overflows the big can. Unfortunately, if it's not in a bag, it doesn't get taken away (although we do ocassionally hide trash below the visible bags in the outdoor can to avoid using more plastic).

I usually bring my canvas bags to the grocery, so when I do get a few plastic bags I try to do my part by re-using them as often as possible ... to bring lunch to work, to line the small trash cans, to line the kitty litter, etc...

Every now and then I do an unexpected shop or I forget to take my cloth bags and then I get plastic. These usually end up being enough. I don't use a liner for "clean" office garbage.

The real question is, what did people do before plastic bags? Only have outdoor garbages? Use paper liners? I would be interested to know.

I've practically stopped using plastic bag replacing it with paper bags (complements of Trader Joe's). No, it's not a perfect solution and doesn't make use of the cloth bags, but it's far better than plastic.

These paper bags are surprisingly sturdy against trash, so long as you're not emptying cans of water into them. I haven't had a spill / leak / tear from any of the moist'ish throw aways coming from the kitchen. Anything too wet that makes its way towards the bottom tends to dry up quick enough that no damage happens.

For those of us living in apt buildings, it seems possible to go liner-free (or at least to not throw out the liner with each use), no? Not that i've tried it, but you all have given me ideas... i'm thinking: take the garbage can downstairs, dump it out into the giant trash bins (that are already lined) for the building, and keep the small liner in my garbage can in case of leakage.

Target has the *best* plastic bags. If they ever decide to cut costs by downgrading to flimsier bags, I will be very very sad (especially when it's my turn to clean the litter box!).

Target has the *only* bags for kitty litter!

I've been trying to not use plastic bag liners. I've reduced my usage by using empty food bags (think potato chips, etc) as my liner. Yes, it fills up pretty quickly but you can reuse them if they haven't gotten stinky.

Many places now sell compostable bin liners.

http://www.gardeningdelights.com/Biodegradable-&-Compostable-Bin-Liners-24

um, plastic grocery bags....

I know people who are never going to use reusable bags. If you need them, ask around, I'm sure you know somebody who has tons of them stuffed in a cabinet.

That's easy - just grab some bags out of the recycle bin at your grocery. That's what I used to do when I lived alone (few grocery bags) with a large German Shepherd (many poo bags). Not a perfect Green solution, but better than nothing. If you don't mind looking like a bag lady (so to speak) for a moment at the grocery.

we only have liners in kitchen and bathroom cans. all the other cans get emptied into the kitchen bag, including the bathroom, which gets its bag (a recycled grocery bag) replaced only when messiness necessitates it.

I hadn't yet thought about this! I have a stash of bags built up over time, but maybe I will run out someday! Not using a liner at all seems like a good plan, but only if you'll actually wash your trash cans out from time to time. I'm not sure I'd do it... Maybe I'll just stash more bags now before they disappear completely.

Emily

How about if you separate your burnable trash and use it to heat your house? :P

I, like many others it seems, use those crazy-strong Target bags. Don't own a car, so I bike to the grocery store and usually will just stick whatever I get into my messenger bag, but those quick-handed Target cashiers usually have bagged everything before I get a chance to decline. I guess I find it fussy to make a big deal about not wanting a bag after my purchases are already in one.

I live in a third-floor walk-up (not too bad, but not terribly convenient) so I don't really want to haul my whole trash can downstairs. Plus, living alone means that it takes me a long time to generate a full can of trash and I don't really want it sitting around that long before disposing. I've considered kitchen composting, but not having a yard makes it seem a bit superfluous.

Not that it's a perfect green solution, but I still get plastic bags at the grocery, keep what I need for throwing away kitty litter and recycle the rest. All of the grocery stores recycle them in my area.

I stopped using the small grocery bags as liners because I really only have small cans for bathroom trash and office trash. Both of which aren't really all that messy and can be emptied into the kitchen trash before I take it out.

i had a roommate in college who had just gotten a new little trashcan. She leaves the room to dump out her trash, she comes back in sorta giggling and i ask her what happened- She had thrown not only her trash down the chute but her new can as well (by accident)

I was thinking about what we used to do when I was a kid before plastic bags were ubiquitous. We composted vegetable garbage for our garden and the rest went into paper grocery bags in the kitchen trash can.

My parents took the trash outside to our cans (actually in an outbuilding) every day as a result. I think chicken bones, shrimp shells, etc., probably made the bags soft but I guess in a week they didn't rot through. They sure did smell in the summer, though.

I'm glad you asked the question. You are making me think about this as a solution for myself. I'm lazy about taking the trash out more than once a week and with plastic bags I don't have to. But paper would be a better solution (our trash goes to an incinerator, although I am able to recycle almost all the trash these days or compost it).

Before plastic bags were invented people would wrap kitchen waste in newspaper

I know this was months ago but It might get read. I was trying to think how to stop buying the big plastic bags for the garbage pails. I remember we just used the plastic trash bin, took it to the big one out side. The rinsed it out with the garden hose. Maybe a little bleach tuned it upside down to dry. Going to get it a try again

Raid the recycle your plastic bags bin at the grocery store!

oops, i just realized someone already suggested that!