What to use for garbage bags?

Blue Onion

So.. I've run out of plastic shopping bags to line our bathroom garbage bin.  You know, the ones that you acquire when you forget to bring your reusable bags.  We don't usually have a ton, but there was always a fairly steady supply in the drawer.  Well, thanks to the pandemic and less shopping and more online orders.. I've used up every single one in the house.  I currently have some bags in the garbage bin that the bulk bagged apples came in, too small though.  We've been working on reducing our plastics as a family, but not looking to completely eliminate them. I would love to hear your suggestions for liners and trash collectors for the smaller type bins.  Typical items are floss, baby wipes, empty shampoo bottles (no recycling in our town, besides cardboard/paper), lady products, etc.  I know many of you are very eco minded, and I would love your ideas.  

Busy-Lizzie

I live in France and plastic supermarket bags aren't sold anymore, but they sell plastic bags especially for bins. I have a big bin in the kitchen with a big liner in it and another one for recycling which the Mairie provides free yellow bags for. I re-use the liners in the other bins in the house and tip the small bins into the big kitchen bin, taking out anything for recycling for the yellow bin. All wrappings, including plastic, are recycled. I usually have more recycling yellow bin rubbish than black bin rubbish. I also have a compost bin.

We don't have house to house collections, I take the bin bags to the bins up the road, different coloured bins for different things and a special bin for glass. At my last house the public bins were nearly 5kms away, here it's about 200m.

Dovefromabove

We don’t line our bins nowadays ... we put folded paper ... large envelopes, paper bags etc at the bottom of the bins to ensure that ‘stuff’ doesn’t stick and will empty easily, and otherwise we rinse the bin out with a dilute bleach and water after emptying and leave it to dry before putting it back. We do the same with our kitchen bins. 

The bins are emptied straight into the appropriate wheelie bin ... general or recycling. They’re not lined either ... if they get smelly we wash them with the hosepipe. 

We did try using the shop bought compostable bin liners made from (I think) potato starch, (we use them for the food waste caddy)  but although it worked there seemed to be little point ... it’s more straightforward to manage without and doesn’t use resources unnecessarily. 

Butterfly66

The only bin we use a liner for is the kitchen bin and for that one we will re-use plastic bags. We don’t worry about them “fitting” properly but are just careful when dropping this in that they do go into the bag. We save any plastic bags (e.g the large plastic envelopes from parcels, wrapping) that comes into the house. Depending on the size of your bin you could use the bag from a loaf of bread - I save these as well - we generate very little rubbish and sometimes use these in our kitchen bin (although more often as freezer bags).

shane.farrell

Why not just carry the items to the kitchen or outside bin each time? 

Dovefromabove

shane.farrell said:

Why not just carry the items to the kitchen or outside bin each time? 

How many hours do you have in your day Shane ... quite a few of us only have 24 ... even those of us who are retired 🤣 

herbaceous

I am still using the ridiculous amounts of plastic bags from my on-line Christmas shopping interspersed with the bags the bathroom stationery comes in (opened carefully when required) and, like BusyLizzie, I empty them a couple of times or until they get manky.

I am on my own so maybe it works because I have total control of all my rubbish   

JennyJ

Anything that comes in a bag that's around the right size, I save the bag. If they've got to be thrown away they might as well have a second use as a bin liner first. I've used bags that internet shopping (clothes etc) came in, bags from supermarket potatoes, carrots, apples etc, anything really. Smaller ones for the bathroom, bigger ones for other small-ish bins. I also sometimes use charity-collection bags for the kitchen bin (if you leave the empty bag out for them to collect and reuse, they never bother), although we do buy liners for that one.

Blue Onion

Thanks for all the tips!  My young children are in charge of emptying the toilet bins once a week on garbage night, so bags with handles have always been easiest.  One collects and one grabs new bags and puts them in.  @Dovefromabove Lining with paper is a great idea, as the boys are big enough to collect the entire bin and dump it in the kitchen bin.  Most of our free weekly circular goes to line the compost kitchen bin.. but this would be perfect for the glossy ads and such that typically go right in the trash.