Waste Away!
I downsized my kitchen trash can a long time ago in the hope that it would encourage less waste - it worked! I now have a small can under my sink, in which an old grocery bag fits perfectly (there are even hooks for the grocery bag handles), however, I now don’t have any old grocery bags as I only use my Chico bags! Huh - I used to have the odd one find its way into my home from an unexpected stop at the hardware store, but now, because I keep a ton of Chico bags in my purse, I’m never caught unaware. So what to line the trash can with?
I’ve researched all kinds of possibilities and honestly, the best thing I can find for now is The Bio-Bag. It’s made of GMO free starch and biodegradable polymers (renewable), whereas a regular plastic bag is made from polyethylene (which requires petroleum and natural gas in its creation).
They make these bio-bags for your kitchen, pet waste, yard waste - everything. The only annoying thing is that as biodegradable as they are, it makes no difference to the landfill situation because nothing really biodegrades in a sealed landfill.
Let me know if you have any other bright ideas??
www.biobagsusa.com
May 27th, 2008 at 9:38 pm
When I was growing up, we always lined the trash can with newspapers. We would put several layers in the bottom of the can and then line the sides.
May 31st, 2008 at 4:52 am
Your link for BioBags doesn’t work. It should be www.biobagusa.com
Thanks!
June 2nd, 2008 at 7:29 pm
I must admit that I’m a newbie to using the chico bags but I love them!! Am in the spring cleaning mode right now - Sophie is Ammonia a “good” or “bad” thing to keep? Thanks!
June 2nd, 2008 at 11:02 pm
I just found a great albeit small bag to use for kitchen trash! When my kids empty out a box of cereal, I now use that plastic bag inside the box as my daily trash bag. I also use any bag, like empty cracker bags or empty jumbo toilet paper bags that the 24 ct. rolls come in, or the produce bags that I sometimes have to use. Just a thought!
June 5th, 2008 at 9:25 am
I just do what the old folk used to down here in Oz. When you are making a meal simply lie a few pieces of newspaper on the counter and anything that may need to go in the bin (as apposed to the compost, worm or bokashi bucket) gets placed on the newspaper to be wrapped at the end of the preparation.Anything else is usually solid and can go in on its own. You may need to make sure that your bin is small enough to carry outside to empty it into the big bin because you wont have any handles on the newspaper!
June 11th, 2008 at 4:05 pm
You could always ask any “non-greeners” that you know of for any unwanted bags, ask neighbors, or even post a “wanted ad” on craigslist.com that u would like them and have a use for them, I know alot of people just have them sitting in a pantry.
June 18th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
Being a natural advocate for many years I’ve been using a fantastic company who produce all organic stuff. It’s called Tinderbox and I visit their actual base in country Western Australia quite frequently. their air freshener is gorgeous and of course has no nasties. The we4b address is cheekyherbs.com. I’m unsure if they deliver o/s but this may be a great resource for Ozzie gorgeously green gals!
Also Moonhaven is another totally gorgeous private company which was borne of necessity as the founder had very sensitive skin. I have used many of their products and love the body lotions and friends always comment on the scent when i enter the room.
June 19th, 2008 at 4:09 pm
Biobags are pretty good and we used to sell them but we started to be concerned about the carbon foot print and sustainability of the product because it’s manufactured in Scandinavia and shipped all the way over here.
It’d near impossible to get away from this problem with so much of our manufacturing base having moved offshore but we try whenever possible to find products made closer to home.
We found a biodegradable bag company right here in North America. The bags they make turned out to be of better quality and the fact that most of the manufacturing and distribution takes place here in north america, creating jobs here and lowering the carbon foot print made the very attractive to us.
You can find them here at http;//www.dirtworks.net.
June 26th, 2008 at 7:33 pm
Thanks for the North American biobag, John! Great idea and great prices!
June 28th, 2008 at 3:52 pm
Seventh Generation Natural Dish Liquid Alert. After feeling real good about using this product for several months, I bought a new bottle with a “right to know” sticker on the front label. This reffered me to the label on the back which stated it was “Safe and Effective.” Down in the left-hand corner, in very small letters, were instructions to peal back the label, which revealed the ingredients. The first, top ingredients are sodium laureth sulfate,cocamidopropyl betaine, and cocamide MEA. So deceptive.
July 2nd, 2008 at 11:12 pm
I really can’t see sweating over the occasional bag. reuse it for trash…AND, DO NOT THINK that landfills are sealed entities. They aren’t. They cook and decompose at a fairly high rate-even the occasional burn-underground, in a “sealed” landfill. There is a system below that takes out the leachate-rather, captures the leachate, which is either put back into the hill or taken to a sewage treatment plant. Unless there is an unusually high content of something hazardous, it is not treated as hazardous waste.
Then above the hill is the gas capturing system. Methane and all kinds of stuff-whatever went in (batteries, flourescent lights, and whatever one wraps up and puts safely into their garbage all goes in from residential and many commercial pick-ups) comes out-and when all goes RIGHT, the mess of gases come out and are burned at a giant “pilot light”….when the flame goes out, the gas can leak out for a while. Anyway, whether burned in some torch or used in a generator to create electricity-which is too expensive for most landfills to do-the stuff put in our trash, does not get sealed up, safely kept out of our environment. We make it, buy it, use it, toss it…..but it doesn’t leave us. It’s there forever!(There are very few landfill power plants that are not just an expensive PR program. Of course, if WE required it….)