Plastic free: Trash Bags

I cut a plastic life-line loose the other day. In a little private ceremony in front of Safeway.

I deposited a whole swack of plastic bags into Safeway’s recycling bin. Adios amigos. Asta la vista. Sayonara.

This was a bundle which had taken up residence in the back seat of MyLittleCar after I tossed them there in the summer of 2006. I’d been too lazy or pre-occupied to deposit them into the recycling bin.

I re-discovered them in the early days of my no-new-plastic-pledge and thought…'Hmmmm…since the rule is I can continue to reuse any of the plastic I have in my life as of Dec 31st 2006, in a pinch I could use these as garbage bags when my paper ones run out.'

But those bags have remained there, untouched, since January 1st. So I thought it was time to let them happily be counted among the 3% of plastic bags that get recycled, instead of the 97% that end up in a landfill taking up to 1,000 years to disintegrate.

Surprisingly, it was easy to let them go.

Partly because I’m starting to get the UrgeToPurge all plastic in my life (even the stuff leftover from 2006). And partly because I’ve found a great substitute - compostable BagToNature kitchen trash bags made out of corn.

I took a lot of time choosing which bags I was gonna lay my cash down for. Not because this was some earth-shattering decision that the future existence of planet-kind hinged on (well, okay, maybe it was).

But rather, because of this comment :^) (yup, that was his/her name) made back in January letting me know not all plastic alternatives are created equal….and some may even be sneaky wolves wearing sheep’s clothing:

"Plastic bag manufacturers have started promoting their products as biodegradeable after they started adding tapioca to their recipes. Since tapioca is organic, a shopping bag containing tapioca will be broken down by micro organisms after it is discarded in the environment, seeding that environment with the polyethylene fragments that no micro organism will consume

I know of a shopping bag that is 100% natural and biodegradable, but due to its relative cost, there isn't a market for it here, yet..."

EnviroWoman will admit, she knew pretty much zippo…nil…nada…. about plastic before embarking on the plastic-is-my-pariah pledge.

Now, some of you may be thinking…'Chickiepoo, if you knew nothing about plastic, why were you so dead-set against it?' EnviroWoman’s snappy retort is… 'I don't have to jump out of a plane without a parachute to know it can't be good for me.'

Anyway, back to picking the right bags…. I so wanted to make a GOOD and informed decision. So I embarked on a crash course in Plastics 101.

And that made me head in the direction of compostable bioplastic bags. I think they’re a good choice. Not a perfect choice. But a good choice. They are better than degradable plastic bags made out of the evil petroleum but which have an additive that disguises them to look like good guys.

You might want to know ‘How can I get my own enviro paws on some BagtoNature’. And guess what. You might not be able to.

I bought mine at EPIC, the recent show here in Vancouver on sustainable living. And when I saw ‘em, I bought a year’s supply because they aren’t available locally from what I can tell. They have someone associated with zerowasteproducts.com who is trying to introduce them to our area, but alas, their website is under construction. Waaahhhh! If you want the sales person's contact info email me at envirowoman@shaw.ca.

The parent company is INDACO Manufacturing and their website gives more info about comparable products.

If you have a local supplier of eco-bags, make sure you check that they are compostable (not just degradable, or biodegradable) to ensure you're buying the most earth-friendly option. Check out Plastics 101: Part 1: Bad Witch, Good Witch for a whirlwind tour of the types of plastic.

So here’s how things add up:

Category: Trash Bags
SAINT: BagToNature, made of corn, compostable, degradable.
Price: Pricey little suckers. $5 for 20.
Quality: Thicker than regular plastic bags. They seem really durable. And most importantly they don’t seem to be subject to the TribbleEffect, which is always a good thing.
SINNER: Grocery store shopping bags….let’s face it most of us reuse them as trash bags instead of buying store bought trash bags made from Glad, Ziploc, or Safeway.

Lessons Learned:

• Composting is MotherNature’s way. She only produces things that can be composted, and doesn’t add toxins in the process. (Yeah, I know, there’s gotta be some exceptions to that rule). Humans should follow her example. Rarely does MomNature burn her garbage, either. Another excellent example to follow. (I'm sure there's a book in there somewhere: All I really need to know, I learned from Mother Nature).
• Lo and behold...there are GOOD (bio)plastics. Who knew?