The Eco-Friendly Bin Bag Alternatives Rated
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Cutting down on waste is the ultimate goal. Yet most of us still need something to contain the stuff that isn’t recyclable or compostable. If you’ve been wondering whether switching to a more sustainable and eco-friendly bin bag is worth it, or which alternatives might be best, I’m here to help you out. I’ve rated all the alternatives, to help you find the greenest solution.
Sending waste to landfill is, quite literally, rubbish. Ideally we’d all send nothing to landfill. – whether that’s through reusable, compostable or recyclable packaging, or through manufacturers adopting circular design practices that eliminate waste from the source.
Unfortunately, we’re not there yet. And in the mean time, despite our best efforts, most of generate some waste that can only go to landfill. So you may well be wondering what the most sustainable bin bag is, to help you minimise your impact on the planet.
Let’s take a look at all the main eco-friendly options – from compostable and biodegrable options, though to paper bags – so you can make the best decision for your household.
The Problem With Standard Bin Bags
Conventional black bin bags are typically made from virgin plastic. Virgin plastic is made from newly extracted fossil fuels, such as petroleum. The issue here is that extracting non-renewable petroleum from the ground and making plastics from it emits huge amounts of greenhouse gases. It’s these emissions which drive climate change.
As well as being made of plastic, bin bags are single-use items, and don’t really break down in landfill. Even worse, if they do degrade, they can release microplastics into the environment. These tiny pieces of plastic can contaminate our soil and water, and turn up in the food we eat. Scientists have found that these plastics are accumulating in our vital organs, and could cause cardiovascular disease and other health conditions.
Are Compostable Or Biodegradable Bin Bags A Better Option?
Given the issues with standard bin bags, you may wonder if compostable or biodegradable bin bags are a more sustainable and eco-friendly option. Biodegradable and compostable are two very different things, so let’s take a look at them both separately:
Compostable Bin Bags
Compostable bin bags sound fantastic in theory. We’re led to believe these will break down completely. And this is the case when they are disposed of in compost environments – either home compost heaps or industrial composting facilities. However, the conditions in landfills, where most of our waste ends up, are a very different beast.
This means that the moment a compostable bag ends up in landfill then its purpose is lost. This is because in order for a compostable item to be able to break down, three basic resources are required. These being heat, light,
In landfill sites waste is essentially mummified, with a complete absence of light and oxygen. This means rather than composting aerobically (in the presence of oxygen), waste breaks down anaerobically (without oxygen).
This might not seen like a big deal, but whether oxygen is present or not has huge environmental implications. Organic waste that breaks down in the presence of oxygen releases carbon dioxide gas. Whilst carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas, and contributes to global warming, it’s not the worst greenhouse gas.
Meanwhile, organic waste that breaks down without oxygen releases methane gas. Methane gas is a more powerful greenhouse gas. In fact, it has a 28 times greater global warming potential than carbon dioxide over a 100-year period. As such, I really don’t recommend using compostable bin bags.
Biodegradable Bin Bags
Bin bags labelled as biodegradable aren’t the same as compostable ones. Most biodegradable plastics are made from conventional petroleum-based plastics, alongside chemical additives.
These additives supposedly cause the plastic to break down more rapidly when exposed to air and light. However, as I’ve mentioned, landfills aren’t known for being light and airy places. This means they won’t perform any differently from conventional plastic bags.
As well as that, biodegrable bags can also still contribute to our microplastic problem. Plus researchers have found that biodegradable bags contain a higher percentage of potentially toxic chemicals, compared to conventional plastic bags. As such, I would avoid use biodegradable bin bags.
What About Paper Bin Bags?
Given that paper bags are made without plastic, it feels like using paper bin bags bags should be a greener option. Indeed, they do have some sustainability benefits – such as the fact that aren’t made from fossil fuels and they don’t release microplastics.
However, there are some pretty big environmental drawbacks though to using paper bin bags.
First up, it’s resource-intensive to produce paper. In fact, according to research, it takes more than four times as much energy to make a paper bag as it does to make a plastic bag. So while paper bags that you re-use are good, single-use paper bin bags make little environmental sense.
As well as the energy issue, there’s the landfill issue. When paper ends up in landfill it releases harmful methane gas as it decomposes in the absence of oxygen. Given that methane is a much more powerful greenhouse gas, I, personally, skip paper bin bags.
So What Is The Most Sustainable Option When It Comes To Dealing With Waste?
If you are looking to green your waste, then here are my top alternatives to bin bags for your waste destined for landfill:
Ditch The Bin Bag
By far the single most eco-friendly bin bag alternative is to go bagless. Yup, completely cut out the need for a bin bag. If you can, instead line the bottom of your kitchen bin with old newspaper. You can then simply tip the contents of your bin into your wheelie bin when the bin is full. This is if your Local Authority allows you to put in bagless waste.
Many people worry about wet and slimy waste making a mess of their bins. However, if you are composting food waste, either in your garden or via your local council’s food waste collection, then you won’t have that problem. All the wet waste will be in your compost bin. It’s cheap, cheerful and 100% sustainable!
Opt For Recycled Plastic Bin Bags
If your local authority requires you to put your general waste in bags, or your personal situation doesn’t allow you to go bagless you don’t have to resort to virgin plastic. An ever-so slightly better option could be using recycled plastic bin bags, like these ones from Who Gives A Crap, that are made in Portugal.
Some plastics can be recycled again and again, but only so many times. Eventually, they need to be downcycled – that is used to make lower-quality products (like bin bags) that can’t be recycled again. So by using this lower quality recycled plastic, it can help reduce the need for new plastic production. This in turn lowers the extraction of fossil fuels and the energy-intensive process of creating virgin plastic.
While plastic doesn’t release methane gas in landfill, remember it’s still plastic. As such, these bags will still release microplastics, so it’s not a perfect option by any stretch.
If you’ve got a stash of old plastic bags, you could also reuse the plastic bags as rubbish bags.
Support A Low-Waste Economy
Crucially, I think the whole eco-friendly bin bag question highlights the fact that we can’t simply shop our way to sustainability.
What we need aren’t eco-friendly bin bag alternatives but a real change away from producing so much waste.
We can’t do that by ourselves. Food composting facilities need to be available to everyone. We need to buy less stuff, and when we do need to buy products they need to be ones that don’t break so quickly or can be repaired easily and affordably.
There needs to be a crackdown on those that produce products that aren’t designed to last. Particularly manufacturers that design using planned obsolescence. We need more repair cafes. And we need to switch from using disposable products to reusable products as and when we can.
This is easier said than done. So this needs to be combined with support from Governments by taxing manufacturers who produce goods in unrecyclable packaging. And there needs to be greater governmental support for the circular economy and zero waste.
Final Thoughts
In short, we don’t need to buy a better bin bag. More sustainable bags don’t really exist. What we do need is to re-think our attitude to waste and all collectively work together, with greater support from the Government, to keep as many things out of landfill as possible.
What do you think?
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I don’t disagree with your article at all, but I have started to wonder what will happen when we eventually have to dig up our landfills and actually deal with the waste buried there. When it comes to that, we may have to incinerate it all or sort it first (yikes what a job!) at that point, unless new technologies exist. The worst option in that case is to buy new plastic bags that are specially manufactured to hold garbage — but the best option remains to be seen. Have you seen anybody working on “dealing” with landfills?
That’s such an interesting point Nicki, and you’re absolutely right – at some stage, we will have to face the mountains of waste buried in landfills. There are a few developments in this area that I’m aware of. Some companies are exploring “landfill mining” – excavating old rubbish to recover metals and other valuable materials. Others are looking into ways to turn waste into energy, although incineration has its own environmental downsides. There’s also research into using microbes or chemical processes to break down certain types of plastic and other stubborn waste. I don’t know if any of these will really get to the root of the issue though – I think we also need a much stronger commitment from governments to help us reduce waste in the first place.
I had come to this same conclusion after considering the cost of ‘bio-degradable’ food waste caddy bin liners that have to be changed every two or three days. After a brief dalliance with various paper liners:- cardboard egg boxes, paper store bags, and as you suggested, newspaper, I came to the conclusion that they may compromise my food waste’s eligibility for pukka composting. That is assuming our food waste does indeed get composted(?)
I’m frustrated by the ‘waste’ of my kitchen scraps after staying for three months on my daughter’s farm where every morsel that is is not consumed by humans is gratefully received by either the pigs and chickens, or processed by the ants and worms in her well managed compost heap. The latter pair busily produce high grade plant food for their fruit and vegetable garden in record time.
Now back in an urban environment, I’m considering building a compost unit in my small garden space, when its ready I’ll source the right kind of worms, the ants will probably find their own way there! My dream is to repurpose a derelict shed into a raised bed for herbs. Watch this space.
That’s exciting Angela, can’t wait to hear more!
Hi, I can’t go bagless yet, although landfill waste is minimal. I used to use online shopping bags etc for bin bags but now I can take them to the supermarket to be recycled, I’m hunting for a “least-worst” alternative. Does anyone know if you can buy paper bin bags? I only have a little bin as we don’t have much landfill waste.
I haven’t seen any paper bin bags Ann-Marie, I’m afraid, but if I come across any I will let you know!
We have a tiny bin due to compost and recycling diversion. There is inevitable packaging which isn’t recyclable. One of these items is bags like pet food/litter bags, chip/crisp bags etc. These make excellent trash bags for a small bin, as they are already destined for the landfill.
Are some of these bin bags that are made from things like corn starch and plants not contributing less carbon emissions than the black plastic bags that most people are using?
The ideal might be to go binless, but for myself for example, who is sharing the place I’m living with other people, that’s not possible.
Even the ones made from recycled plastic would surely be better than the ones that are used new plastic.
What’s wrong with compostsble bags? We use them and our council composts the food waste. Isn’t that eco-friendly? As for lining bins with newspaper, our council refuses to compost newspaper, as the ink pollutes the compost. You claim to be an expert but don’t state how you qualify for that title. Tell me more!
Hi Roger,
For food waste compostable bags are perfect. This article is more about using a bin bag for landfill waste. I wrote this article because I was being asked regularly to recommend eco-friendly bin bags. The problem is that compostable bin bags don’t really break down in landfill. You can line your general waste bin with newspaper, and then just tip your household general waste into your landfill bin – no bag required.
My about page tells you a bit more about my qualifications, but I’m happy to share in more detail. I have a BSc in Environmental Geography and an MSc with distinction in Environmental Sustainability. I also have worked for 16 years in the sustainability sector. Two years working in academia in climate change research, informing Government sustainability policy. A further two years were spent working in sustainability policy at the local government level. And 12 years working in environmental/climate change education/community action programmes. I’ve also written a book, and Forbes has listed me in their top 100 UK environmentalists. I currently work with local communities in the intersection between public health and climate change – I write this blog in my spare time to help educate and inform beyond my local community.
One of the best tips I’ve had for reducing bin bag use was to use the bag from the toilet rolls to line the bathroom bin. Doesn’t work for the bin in the kitchen (we just have the two bins) but it does give another use to plastic that we already have coming into the house :)
Great article Wendy, I too agree that there is no other alternative
Where I live we have to transport our rubbish to a communal dumpster. It has to go in something. I would prefer something that it is at least possible to degrade. At least that isn’t plastic floating about in the ocean somewhere.
Hi, I haven’t ditched the big bin bag yet, but I have been reusing any bag which comes my way to line bathroom and bedroom bins. I’ve just made my own washable and re usable waste and bathroom bin liners from a shower curtain. There is a big liner for the bin to contain non- recyclables and a bag within to separate the recyclables, these get tipped directly into our appropriate wheelie bin. They don’t need washing very often but if they get grimy, I can pop them in the wash! We don’t read a paper so that’s not a solution for the big bin, reading your post has made me wonder if I should make a big bin liner from the old shower curtain? I will have a think.
Our city council has just switched to wheelie bins, but is insisting that all rubbish is bagged! We are already avid recyclers, and re-users, have an allotment, so no green waste, but we still have some throwaway stuff. I think I may write to the council and suggest they encourage bag free bins!
I like this. And I think you’re so right that it’s tempting to think you can just buy your way to a more sustainable life. I will be going bagless in the future, but am not there yet. At the moment I’m saving single-use plastic bags (mostly internetshopping bags, and charity bags) to reuse as a binliner, and it’s not perfect at all but it’s at least turning them into double-use plastic.
Great post! I think it can be big adjustment coming from previously wasting a lot to go completely bin bagless. However I do think making slow changes overtime will at least reduce the amount of bin bags you use in the long term. It is amazing how quickly they fill up if you pay no attention to the waste you are creating.
Do you have any opinion/info on Ecobricks? A friend was telling me she’s sending most of her non-recyclables their way now.
Unfortunately I live in a tiny rural village and all our bin waste is put in the bin lorry by hand (we live down a tiny road the big lorry can’t fit) Containing the rubbish is a must. Our local council also provide the clear bags which we have to use. Not everyone can just abandon bin liners sadly…as much as we would like to.
This is a great post, since I think it’s easy to see ‘biodegradable’ and think it’s the best thing for us to buy and we’re buying something really environmentally friendly. I feel like going no liner could be an interesting way pay attention to what you’re actually throwing away and perhaps discover there are areas you can reduce waste – if it’s in a bag, you tie it up and don’t really pay much attention.
I ditched the black bags when someone pointed to a stack of black bags and asked if every household used 1 of these a week how many would go to landfill. Millions.
Another plea is don’t put your recycling in black bags as the operatives can’t tell whats in them so they go to landfill.
By sheer coincidence – I have just ditched my bin bags. The slight downside is that I have plastic or perspex bins as they are easier to clean ( I had metal but they rust and I don’t actually buy newspapers so I choose not to line them). But – these bins will last for years ( I have had one 13 years already); I don’t have the costs of buying bags (both financial and environmental). As a kid growing up many moons ago we never lined bins either! Some of the Old Ways are proving to be the best!
Biodegradable bags eco friendly? Are they the same as degradable bags? When it comes to bin liners, is there a best option?
Lining your bin with newspaper!