Best 10 Eco-friendly Trash Bags

Eco-friendly trash bags is one way to live sustainably as many people seek methods to lessen their dependency on single-use plastics as environmental damage caused by plastic is becoming more widely recognized.

These bags are constructed entirely of plant-based materials and are meant to decompose swiftly in humid and hot environments. For items like food scraps and yard trash, they can be a terrific alternative to plastic bags, even though they might not be appropriate for all sorts of rubbish. 

They can even be good for the environment since they decompose into organic stuff. So, if you’re searching for a strategy to use less plastic, think about using eco-friendly trash bags instead.

The United States created 292 million tons of garbage in 2018, the most ever, according to the EPA’s most recent figures, which were released in December 2020. 

Even while some landfills and incinerators use the gases, they produce to generate energy, everything that ends up in the trash requires a lot of resources during its production, transportation, and usage by humans before being disposed. 

Composting, buying used items, participating in local sharing economies, and thinking twice about purchases before making them are just a few methods for reducing waste.

In this post, we go through the operation of eco-friendly trash bags, how they decompose, and how they affect the ecosystem as a whole

Additionally, we narrowed down the market’s top 10 eco-friendly trash bags so you can be confident your purchase won’t harm the environment.

Are There Eco-friendly Trash Bags?

The answer is Yes. Trash bags can be more eco-friendly than the usual plastic trash bag alternative—the materials they are made of play a significant role in this. 

Plastic is what trash bags are made of, and plastic is made of a material that has decomposed slowly and frequently over the years. Fossil fuels, which plastic also comes from, should not be extracted from the earth any further.

Trash bags produced from materials other than virgin plastics will probably be a more eco-friendly option than what the majority of people now use. Everyone will generate a certain amount of trash no matter how hard we try.

Since we cannot wholly eliminate waste from our lives, what kinds of trash bags are the best to use for items we can’t reuse, recycle, or reduce?

What Makes Eco-Friendly Trash Bags?

Eco-friendly trash bags have long been a topic of discussion for those who care about the environment and are concerned about their influence on Mother Nature. 

Based on the material used in its production, the amount of energy and virgin resources used to produce or transport it, and what happens to it at the end of its life, one may think of a trash bag as being more eco-friendly.

Materials

Recycled plastic or plant materials are typically used to make eco-friendly trash bags. If they are decomposing under the right conditions, plant-based materials often leave behind less greenhouse gas and harmful compounds leaking into the soil in which they decompose. 

While recycled plastic bags don’t degrade any differently from virgin plastic, they can foster a more vibrant market for recycled plastic and use fewer virgin resources, which can help cut down on waste in general.

Energy Usage

More businesses have invested in lowering the energy consumed at firm facilities such as buildings and manufacturing plants and recycling items previously regarded as waste, as customer demand drives changes in corporate and governmental policies.

Although it’s not the “end all,” be all living sustainably, this is progress. And the progress made by a big business is considerably more significant than my unplugging my inactive toaster or forgoing a straw at a restaurant. In conclusion, it’s valuable while continuing to inspire businesses to seek improvement constantly.

End Of Life

After we fill up our trash bags, what happens to them largely depends on the materials they are made of and the facility they are sent to.

Eco-friendly trash bags made of recycled plastic may minimize waste during manufacture, but their post-use replacements aren’t any more effective than traditional garbage bags. Even now, we still dump plastic in our landfills.

After we fill up our trash bags, what happens to them largely depends on the materials they are made of and the facility they are sent to. Eco-friendly trash bags made of recycled plastic may minimize waste during manufacture, but their post-use replacements aren’t any more effective than traditional trash bags. Even now, we still dump plastic in our landfills.

The organic matter needs oxygen and water throughout the decomposition process to be environmentally friendly. Even the simplest of food leftovers don’t decompose effectively at a landfill because they are buried beneath other trash in an atmosphere deficient in oxygen. 

Without oxygen, organic matter decomposes and produces methane, a greenhouse gas around 25–30 times more potent than carbon dioxide. Organic waste includes plant-based garbage bags. In other words, it’s not good for the environment to send organic waste to landfills.

Additionally, the material used to produce the trash bag becomes irrelevant when filling it with non-organic stuff. The bag is sent to the landfill since its contents are considered contaminated in a composting setting. 

Plant-based trash bags disintegrate slowly and emit methane, like our food leftovers in a stuffy landfill. In a sense, it negates the whole idea of using the bags.

Difference Between Compostable and Biodegradable Trash Bags

Many manufacturers say their bags are biodegradable, compostable (or sometimes both). The two terminologies differ significantly, and both terminologies have limitations. Let’s look at their difference.

Compostable

The phrase “compostable” refers to something that will decompose after a specified time without posing any hazards to the environment or material safety. 

The FTC’s Green Guides state that a product is compostable if it “will break down into, or otherwise become part of, usable compost (e.g., soil-conditioning material, mulch) in a safe and timely manner. (i.e., in roughly the same time as the materials with which it is composted) in an appropriate composting facility, or a home compost pile or device.”

Or, to put it another way, the object should completely degrade, much like other organic materials like food leftovers and yard trash. 

The compostable material should decompose quickly if placed in a warm, carefully controlled industrial compost plant. The item should decompose in less than a year in a passive compost system, like the carelessly tended pile in your garden.

Biodegradable

According to the FTC’s Green Guides, a product must “fully break down and return to nature (i.e., breakdown into elements present in nature) within a reasonably short amount of time following typical disposal” to be claimed to be biodegradable or degradable.

It adds that making an unqualified degradable claim for objects entering the solid waste stream is misleading if the products do not fully degrade within one year of conventional disposal. 

Unqualified claims of degradability for products typically disposed of in landfills, incinerators, and recycling facilities are misleading since these places do not provide circumstances that will allow for full breakdown within a year.

In other words, an object must fully degrade into components that naturally occur in nature within a year and not be an item that is typically disposed of in a landfill, an incinerator, or a similar facility where the nature of the facility prevents such degradation from occurring within a year.

However, it doesn’t seem suitable under the FT Green Guide criteria to claim biodegradability for garbage bags that are frequently made to go into landfills and incinerators.

It is important to note that compostable and biodegradable when used in conformity with FTC standards, both mean that something should decompose into elements found in nature in less than a year. Nevertheless, unlike biodegradable products, compostable items will decompose into something that may be used as a soil amendment.

Even though we should all be staunch fans of leading a waste-free lifestyle, compostable trash bags are preferably followed by biodegradable and degradable trash bags.

10 Best Eco-friendly Trash Bags

These eco-friendly trash bags were chosen based on their durability, eco-friendliness, and general customer feedback.

1. UNNI 100% Compostable Food Scrap Bags

The UNNI 100% Compostable Food Scrap Bags are highly biobased and produced from plant-based materials. One of the best compostable trash bags on the market, these bags are non-toxic, strong, and contain no polyethylene.

As a result of certificates from the European OK Compost Home and the Biodegradable Products Institute, all of UNNI’s eco-friendly trash bags are 100 percent compostable even when used in a home composting system.

In addition to being maintained away from extreme heat and moisture, UNNI Compostable Food Scrap Bags must be used within a year of purchase.

UNNI produces 100% biodegradable tableware, cutlery, shopping bags, and sandwich bags in addition to compostable bags.

2. FORID Eco-friendly Trash Bags

The plant starch substance used to make FORID eco-friendly trash bags is created using a unique biomaterial derived from naturally renewable plant starch extracts.

These compostable and biodegradable bags may be composted in backyards and home composting bins. FORID asserts that its products are entirely biodegradable, odorless, and safe.

Contrary to compostable trash bags’ well-known tendency to shred easily, especially when filled with wet rubbish, FORID Compostable Trash Bags have a sturdy octagonal bottom supporting at least 38kg.

The manufacturing firm has been operating for 15 years and gives 1% of its profits to environmental charities.

3. Green Earth Compostable Bags

In contrast to biodegradable bags, Green Earth Compostable Bags disintegrate in water, carbon dioxide, and biomass, making them suitable for use in both business and residential settings.

The business uses biodegradable materials and GMO-free plants when developing its compostable goods.

Because of the biodegradable materials used, this tall kitchen trash bag may fit most tall bins, but it must be used within one year of purchase and kept from heat and moisture.

Green Earth Compostable is a manufacturer of eco-friendly trash bags specializing in plant-based, 100% compostable waste bags. It contributes 1% of revenues to organizations that support environmental protection.

4. Hippo Sak Plant-Based Kitchen Bags

Hippo Sak products are a fantastic option if you seek the best eco-friendly trash bags. These biodegradable trash bags are reusable and renewable, lowering your carbon footprint because they are produced from sugar cane rather than fossil fuels.

According to Hippo Sak, its plant-based bags are ten times stronger than other top garbage bags, and an examination of their Amazon ratings would support this claim.

These plant-based kitchen bags are an excellent alternative thanks to several innovations, including the 4-play extra-wide hand-friendly handles that make them simpler to grasp and the PowerStrip Reinforced Bottom that guards against tears, holes, and leaks.

The USDA has certified the biobased Hippo Sak plant-based bags as a product. The most significant environmental standards are used in the production of every Hippo Sak product, which also uses little water and produces few pollutants. The business views itself as an environmental pioneer in recycling, reusing, and reducing.

5.100% Compostable ETSUS Bags

The manufacturing firm and family-run enterprise, ETSUS, which stands for Ethical and Sustainable, creates sustainable products.

These trash bags with a 4-6 gallon capacity are made from sustainably cultivated corn starch, which naturally breaks down on land and in water.

These eco-friendly trash bags are biodegradable in a home composting setting and have fewer greenhouse gas emissions and a carbon footprint than PE plastics.

The materials used to make ETSUS biodegradable garbage bags comply with American standards. Composting in an industrial setting must adhere to ASTM D6400 requirements.

ETSUS is an attractive option if you’re seeking bulk eco-friendly trash bags.

6. GreenPolly Clear Recycling Bags

The materials used to make these recycling bags are 80% certified post-consumer recycled plastic and 20% polyethylene made from sustainable sugarcane. In other words, instead of using fossil fuels, GreenPolly recycles used plastics to create this line of recycling bags.

These solid 3-ply transparent recycling bags are made without BPA and are intended for use in municipal clear-bag recycling systems.

Instead of obtaining natural polyethylene (PE) from fossil raw materials like natural gas and oil, it obtains it from a sustainable source.

7. BioBag Compostable Food Scrap Bags

In search of the top tall kitchen trash bags? This line of biodegradable tabletop kitchen food scrap bags is produced by BioBag, a business that prides itself on being a pioneer in producing organic waste bags.

BioBags are an excellent alternative to typical plastic trash bags for yard waste and food waste since they are made from plants, totally compostable polymers, and vegetable oils. As a result, they are 100% biodegradable and may be devoured by soil-based microbes.

BioBag garbage bags are made to last and include bottoms that are star-sealed for added resilience.

8. Second Nature Bags 100% Compostable Trash Bags

These garbage bags are made from premium sustainable bio-based ingredients, such as sugar cane, vegetable oils, and plant starches.

Second Nature Bags are solid and hold up well even with moist rubbish, even though they are biodegradable. They are, therefore, ideal for storing garbage and organic food waste in your bathroom, kitchen, or diaper pail.

Regarding garbage bags, Second Nature Bags guarantees a complete refund or replacement if you’re unhappy with them.

Second Nature Bags are among the best biodegradable garbage bags on the market thanks to several certifications, including the BPI, ASTM 6400, and Vincotte “Ok Home Compost” accreditation.

Reducing environmental contamination and our carbon footprint is significant to this industrial organization.

9. UniDomum 100% Compostable and Biodegradable Trash Bags

Corn starch is one of the organic, non-toxic, and non-GMO components used to make UniDomum trash bags.

Like other garbage bags, the bag is exposed to microorganisms, which break it down into carbon dioxide, biomass, and water.

According to UniDomum, their bags are made from a 50% thicker substance than other biodegradable bags, which enables them to maintain their material integrity for a more extended period when used in an indoor bin.

10. That’s Rubbish Drawstring Trash Bags

Compostable garbage bags from That’s Rubbish are made from organic, renewable plant materials that break down when exposed to natural elements.

The decomposition time for these waste bags should be between 9 and 12 months, depending on the temperature and location. It’s important to remember that even the packaging, which is composed of recycled paperboard, is recyclable.

The simple and dependable drawstring clasp makes these waterproof trash bags excellent since it allows you to close and seal the garbage without worrying about spillage or leaking.

The biodegradable waste bags from That’s Rubbish have received BPI certification. Using biodegradable trash bags from That’s Rubbish can lessen your carbon footprint and contribute to a greener environment.

Conclusion

We have come to the end of eco-friendly trash bags. These trash bags are not just eco-friendly but also affordable. You can be the change you want to see in your environment by trying out any of the above-mentioned eco-friendly trash bags.

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