Our Top Picks for Biodegradable, Compostable, and Plant-Based Alternatives to Plastic Trash Bags.
In my journey to remove as much plastic from my life, I find myself cooking a lot more than I had in the past. For example, I am not making my own yogurt every week, which has been incredibly awesome, but has also caused a lot of extra food waste in my kitchen. In the past, I had been using the traditional plastic garbage bags that are sold at all the local big-box stores. However, every time I took the trash out to the bin, I knew I was adding more plastic to the environment.
Even though my bags would end up in a landfill, I still didn’t want the plastic to be the type that would sit in that landfill for thousands of years, or be the type that could leak toxic chemicals back into the soil. The bags below are the ones I’ve researched and tried over the years during my quest for using the least amount of plastic as possible.
Here are the best plant-based trash bags available today:
Bag To Nature Kitchen Bags
The Bag To Nature are my current choice for the 13-gallon trash bin in my kitchen. With the the current plant-based technology, there is no heavy-duty option available for trash bags, but Bag To Nature is about as close as they come. As with any biodegradable bag, any time you put food waste or moisture into the bag, the biodegrading will happen faster. So if you are using the 13-gallon size, don’t put in a bunch of food waste and let it sit for a week. That will cause the bag to leak. Either use a 3-gallon size, or avoid loading up the bin with food waste for long periods of time. These bags are BPI certified and by far the best bag we’ve tested so far. Manufactured in Canada.
Hippo Sak Recycled Kitchen Bags
I buy these bags for very specific needs around the house. I really love this brand and what they are trying to do, but please note that they have a long ways to go. Only about 20% of the bag is made from recycled ocean plastic, which is a great start! They are on a mission to increase the number as the technology and infrastructure come into place. For now, I love these bags for yard work, and other heavy-duty projects. The key to using these bags are that they can be used over and over again and you can feel good that you are taking plastic out of the ocean and giving the plastic another use. Made in The USA.
Shop Hippo Sak Recycled Bags »
unni Compostable Trash Bags
The name unni is a play on “You and I” and these are another great option for compostable and plant-based trash bags. They also come in nine different sizes, including a 33 gallon version and a 3-liter pet poop version . Made in China.
BioBag Compostable Kitchen Trash Bags
https://amzn.to/2KxVtTD
BioBag’s goal is to help divert all naturally orange waste from entering landfills. So these bags are specifically meant to be sent to compostable facilities with only compostable contents inside. I use their 33-gallon leaf yard waste version anytime I have to quickly haul some yard waste in a bag. Of all the compostable bags I tried, these ripped the easiest, but they still did the job. Made in Germany.
Featured Photo by Lisa Fotios from Pexels
