what to use instead of plastic trash bags
Information technology's a new week, and I'm fix to talk trash. I of the almost common questions I get about plastic-free living is what I do for garbage bags. And the 2d most common question is what to line our waste matter cans with if plastic grocery bags are banned.
Here's my short answer: We don't line our trash can with whatever plastic numberless at all.
The longer answer is that since we make well-nigh zip trash, and the trash we practise make is dry, we don't have any demand for bags to collect information technology.
Composting Wet Garbage
Composting takes care of anything wet and icky. We collect all of our food scraps in a metal bucket that we keep nearly the sink. We used to line information technology with BioBags (more info on those below), but these days we opt for sheets of old newspaper that tin be composted along with the food scraps. Originally, nosotros didn't bother with whatever liner at all, only somewhen I found the aluminum bucket as well difficult to clean without it.
Here in the SF Bay Expanse, many of us have several options for composting. With very little effort, those of us in San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley, and other areas with city-wide composting can just empty our nutrient scraps (including animal products) and food-soiled paper directly into our greenish bins, from which it volition be picked up by the same visitor that hauls our garbage and candy at a commercial compost facility. In fact, according to a new San Francisco recycling law, putting food waste in a compost bin is non an option; information technology'southward mandatory.
So what nearly those of us without city-wide composting?
Many of us can nevertheless compost on our own. In fact, for several years, Michael and I used our own Compost Tumbler to make beautiful compost for our front m. We chose a tumbler because we didn't have the thousand space for a traditional composter, and a tumbler could exist set upward right on our back deck.
There are plenty of other options for home composting too the one we chose. Tumblers, traditional bins, worm bins, bokashi are all methods of converting bio waste into soil. Back in 2007, I explained why we chose our composting method. Here in Oakland, the city offers residents discounted composters and worm bins. Other cities may offer subsidized compost bins besides. A quick search shows programs in New York City, Massachusetts, Thurston Canton WA, and many others.
Recycling paper, glass, & metal
Composting takes care of the wet stuff. Most of what we have left is recyclable. Nosotros recycle clean paper, glass jars, metallic cans. Michael recycles any plastic containers he ends upwards with. My plastic, equally you know, ends up in my plastic collection for display on this blog. Equally it turns out, the major portion of our recycling is newspaper. We rarely eat canned foods considering of the BPA lining inside metal cans. And we save glass jars for nutrient storage.
Our recycling container, of class, is not lined with plastic. In fact, you should never put plastic bags into your recycle bin considering they can jam up the sorting machines. I wrote extensively about recycling back in 2007 afterwards researching the materials that could get into Oakland's recycling organization, and made visits to our local Davis Street Recycling Center and California Waste material Solutions. Check out these posts for a deeper understanding of the recycling procedure.
The Rest of our Bagless Trash
The rest of our trash consists of dryer lint (of which at that place is very piddling because we hang about of our laundry to dry), floor sweepings, dental floss, Michael'south few unrecyclable plastic wrappers (he brings most of them to piece of work to contribute to the Terracycle Wrapper Brigade), and bits of unrecognizable stuff here and in that location. We don't compost our lint considering some of our laundry contains synthetic fibers. Nevertheless, our small trash can fills upwardly very, very slowly. Nosotros empty information technology virtually in one case a calendar month.
Plastic-Free Pet Waste
We don't need to employ plastic numberless for our cats' waste either because we use SwheatScoop, [2016 update: Swheatscoop has switched to a plastic bag. We now use Integrity cat litter instead.] which is biodegradable, flushable litter. You might hear warnings well-nigh flushing cat waste because of a parasite many cats carry that is chancy to marine animals. Our cats, nonetheless, take tested negative for toxoplasma gondii, and since they are indoor only cats, in that location is no hazard they will pick information technology up. And so for us, flushing is the best answer.
If we had dogs, we'd have to find another alternative. One possibility would be to option up poop using compostable dog waste bags and dispose of it in a domestic dog waste product composter. However, using compostable dog waste numberless is not recommended if the waste is only going to the landfill. You lot'll see why further down this mail service.
What If Nosotros Couldn't Compost?
So, as I've said, the main reason nosotros don't need to use plastic trash bags is because there is zip wet or icky in our trash. But what if for some reason composting were not an reply and we really did need to utilise some kind of liner? Here is a comparing of various options, starting with the least environmentally-friendly:
Conventional plastic trash bags. They're strong, waterproof, and come in various sizes. Some of them have convenient little tie strings. Just the majority of their content is virgin plastic fabricated from fossil fuels (oil or natural gas), which are non-renewable resources. Their product contributes to the worldwide problem of pre-product plastic pollution (aka "nurdles"). They will never biodegrade. Oh, and they cost money!
Recycled plastic trash bags. They comprise 55% – 80% recycled plastic, although simply 10% – 24% is post-consumer waste. While they require less virgin plastic in their production than conventional numberless, they still contain some new plastic which is destined to become straight from the box to the landfill, where it will never biodegrade. Oh, and they too cost money.
Certified compostable trash bags fabricated from bio-based plastics. Numberless similar BioBag are made from a combination of plant starches and fossil-based plastics that are certified to biodegrade in a well-run industrial compost facility. However, since they are synthetic, they are prohibited from certified organic compost, so not all facilities will take them. And in the anaerobic conditions of a landfill, they will give off methyl hydride gas like whatever other bio-based materials. Methane is really a more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. Plus, BioBags price money!
Other Biodegradable Bags. Some of these are catchy. There are oxodegradable numberless which are fabricated from virgin plastic and incorporate a heavy metal to help them intermission down. And there are as well bags which are a mixture of virgin plastic and various starches. The jury is out as to whether these bags really decompose all the fashion or whether they simply pause downward into tiny pieces of plastic that last in the environment. One of the issues with these types of bags is that for proprietary reasons, manufacturers will not reveal the ingredients that are in them. If nosotros don't know what a plastic is made from, how do nosotros know information technology'due south safe?
Paper bags. From a practical standpoint, paper won't solve the problem of wet garbage. Ecologically speaking, they take their own ecology impacts. Paper bags crave materials (trees) and energy to produce. And again, they volition not compost properly in landfill conditions.
Re-used plastic numberless such as grocery, bread, and chips bags. Since these bags' original purpose was to concord something other than garbage, equally trashbags they can be considered to comprise 100% post-consumer content. And in most places, they're complimentary. Here'southward a funny video listing all the different kinds of packaging y'all can utilize for trash if plastic shopping bags are banned. It'southward tongue in cheek, so please accept it with the humor that's intended:
Still, reused plastic packaging and bags are made from a non-renewable resources and bring with them all the problems of the first two types of plastic bags. And since the whole point of this blog is reducing plastic consumption, I'm non recommending bringing habitation new plastic grocery numberless or packaging simply to line trash cans.
While we ourselves might not have a supply on mitt from our own groceries, Freecycle and Craigslist could be skilful sources. Rather than accepting new plastic grocery numberless to transport to the landfill with our trash, why not employ someone else'southward — someone else who has not however kicked their plastic habit. It'due south not a perfect solution, merely better than buying or acquiring new plastic to throw away. And a further suggestion would exist to apply the plastic bags only for wet garbage. Put the dry out stuff in a split tin without whatsoever liner. That way, y'all'll at least reduce the amount of plastic y'all need to employ.
The fact is, at that place is no magically perfect way to dispose of garbage since the whole concept of garbage itself is not eco-friendly. The best option is to endeavor and reduce the amount of waste we generate in the showtime identify.
Annotation: This post was updated on 12/02/2012.
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Source: https://myplasticfreelife.com/2010/02/collecting-garbage-without-plastic-trash-bags/
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