As more communities, including countries from Ireland to China, impose bans, fines, and restrictions on the plastic grocery bag, its bigger relative, the trash bag, continues to raise environmental debate.
Used for purposes from collecting leaves to gathering kitchen garbage, these larger trash bags have the same drawbacks as the smaller offenders: They're made from petroleum-based synthetics, so both extraction and manufacture contribute to greenhouse gas emissions.
In addition, trash bags are used almost exclusively for disposal, which means that they're adding to the growing landfill and possibly preventing compostable and biodegradable materials from decomposing.
For a number of reasons, trash bags are near essential to even the greenest consumer. Some community trash pickups require that materials be bagged rather than set out loose in trash containers to discourage animals. And few people have been able to reduce their household footprint to the point that they're no longer generating trash. Thus, the trash bag conundrum.
One way to cut down on your use of plastic trash bags is to ratchet up your recycling efforts to reduce your waste output. Follow these steps and watch your use of trash bags shrink.
• Compost kitchen scraps. You can turn fruit and vegetable trimmings, coffee grounds, tea leaves, eggshells, and some other materials into rich garden soil in your backyard. (See Chapter 2 of Book VI for more about composting.)
• Limit the use of trash liners to only those receptacles that collect wet or drippy garbage. For smaller cans, such as those in the bedroom or living areas, eliminate the trash bag. Many waste cans now come with a removable, washable plastic liner (ah, more plastic!) so that you don't have to continue to use small liner bags.
• Use bags you already have, such as brown paper bags from grocery stores, tired-looking gift bags, and department store bags for trash. This option is green because you're recycling, but it's a less green option because you shouldn't have these items in the first place if you've converted to taking your own cloth bags to the store.
• Designate the lined trash bin as the homes "central" receptacle and empty the smaller bins into this one. That way, you can limit your weekly bag use to one.
• Look for biodegradable trash bags. These bags are made from corn or other renewable sources, and many advertise that they can biodegrade in a compost bin in just days. Even if you set them out for your weekly trash pickup, at least they're breaking down in the landfill.
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