Can anyone give me some tips on replacing the use of plastic bags for garbage, as well as those sandwich bags.
Answer:
You can buy "plastic"/ disposable bags, plates, spoons, cups, and such made from natural and therefore biodegradable materials. Some are made from corn starches or wheat starches. Check out the website below for one place where you can purchase them.
You can also check out natural and health stores for recycled bags, and use things like aluminum foil, which can be washed and reused.
You need to be really careful about reusing plastic, especially if you heat it (or run it in a dishwasher with hot water). Dangerous chemical compounds can be released as the plastic breaks down. They can cause cancer, reduce your fertility, and lots of other gross stuff. I try to use all glass storage containers--I save salsa and pickle jars, for example, and use them to store left over food or food for lunches. they're safe to microwave, and recyclable if they ever do break.
Hmmm...thats a tough one. If you make a compost heap, you can eliminate a lot of trash bag use. If dumps weren't so demanding about trash being neatly bagged, I'd say to use a burlap sack that you could just empty and reuse, even wash if needed. As long as you rinse your "wet garbage" that should work...
use paper bags. theyre better for the environment and a lot easier to reuse! instead of using sandwich bags for lunches and whatnot, try using gladware.
Purchase reusuable plastic containers for use in place of plastic sandwich bags.
what do you mean? I never buy plastic garbage bags, i use grocery bags, and i use old bread bags for sandwhich bags. They are free, and you always seem to end up with millions of them. If you recycle some things like milk jugs, cans, glass, and paper you wont need a huge bag for trash.
For sandwiches you could use wax paper or reusable plastic containers. (I have seen some people be cheap and reuse yogurt, butter, jam jars, etc.) . I might have seen some organic grocery stores (Traders Joes, etc.) offer more environmentally friendly plastic kitchen garbage bags.
I agree with using the reusable plastic containers, work very well and store easy. just make sure if you put anything that's smelly in it that you wash it that night, smells tend to stick with them
Paper bags are not the answer sorry! Paper comes from cutting down trees! Anything reusable, like some other people have said would be great. Also, check out your local natural food store for plastics that are not made with pvc and other toxic substances.
In my house we use plastic reusable containers for bringing lunches to work. We'd much rather wash than throw away any day. However, if we need to use a bag, we always recycle something that held veggies from the grocer. We do our best to bring our own bags to the grocery store these days, but it doesn't always work, so there is the bag recycling area in our laundry room.
As for garbage, that can be a challenge. Recycle everything you can, use your composter and share any meat leftovers with your favorite pet if that's allowed.
You can purchased green garbage bags from Trader Joe's and Whole Foods. Check you local health food store for them.
Agree with others, use gladware or tupperware for sandwiches or lunch items, I have a pint bottle I bought milk in, reuse it every day for milk, juice, or water. Compost what you can, coffee grounds, egg shells, veggies all good for garden or work into flower bed. Recycle plastic, paper, cardboard, metal. How much garbage can you have left? Practice makes perfect!
the garbage question is the tricky one. at my house, we use paper grocery bags (always ask for paper instead of plastic!!), but if you are worried about wasting paper i would suggest not using anything at all. empty wet stuff in the sink before throwing it away to avoid the trash can getting to dirty and smelly, and maybe give it a good wash every now and then too.
not using paper bags is a valid point, because they aren't getting recycled if you use them for trash. however, if you're going to go with that make sure you use a reusable tote bag to buy your groceries with; if you're using their paper bags anyway, reusing them for your trash is the perfect way to see recycling in action!
sandwich bags: definitely replace them with reusable tupperware. once you make the initial purchase, you're not spending money every week to replace them and don't have to worry about killing the environment.
another lunch time tip: use cloth napkins and a reusable lunch box instead of a paper lunch sack.
Well instead of using paper bags or plastic bags at your local grocery store, you can purchase a large shopping bag and bring it with you when you go shopping. Anywhere for that matter, it does not need to be just for groceries.
And I wish people would stop wrapping gifts in wrapping paper or using decorated bags. Newspapers work fine (even though they look a little tacky, there are various ways to make them look really cool!)
You can use start by composting as much as possible and recycling what you can (this will cut down on your demand for plastic bags). Use paper bags for the trash that is left that you cannot recycle. As far as replacing sandwich bags, use air-tight plastic containers (Tupperware, glad-ware or the like) if you want to have reusable containers or use aluminum foil to wrap sandwiches if you want to be able to recycle the wrapper.
I don't have an answer for trash bags, but will be checking back to see if anyone has a clever idea!
As for your lunch, use reusable, washable containers and an insulated bag to eliminate the extra $ and waste. I bought a tupperware lunch set 10 years ago and still use it every day to take my lunch, in my handy dandy Schwann's give a way freebie lunch bag. (Yes, I'm cheap)
Someone was just talking about the over use of wrapping paper. I agree--it's so spendy and such a waste! We use maps, fabric, and when the kids were little their artwork!
reusable containers for the sandwhiches, for garbage cans you can use no liner and just rinse it out with the hose every time you take out the trash.
ok my issue with trash bags; here, you need to have your trash bagged. so not using a bag and rinsing the trash can is out of the question. although an awesome idea if its possible where you live! the only thing i can come up with on trash, is to minimize your trash can waste. compost all food products. (even egg shells can compost!) burn any paper or cardboard. recycle all plastics and glass and cans. this greatly minimizes what goes in the trash can!! also, as everyone else said, gladware or tupperware is awesome for lunches. my husband bought a small cooler for his lunchbox, and we use it for long car trips, fishing, etc as well as his lunch! i get the hillshire farms lunchmeat; its usually cheaper or same price as the deli, it doesnt come in a plastic bag, AND i get a free gladware container to reuse in his lunch!!
That is wonderful that you care many people dont...well when you go to the grocery store bring your own cloth bags and use those everytime...and use reusable tupperware for sandwiches and snacks.
Get canvas tote bags and bring them to your store with you. Do it all the time - they fold up nicely when they're empty, and then you can put the handles over your shoulder for heavy loads.
That is a tough one but here are a couple of ideas I have found along the way. A lot of people have started to use compost bins for all their food scraps. That way you have a place that is safe from animals and you can re-use the compost in your garden. I have a large galvanized bucket, that I use for gardening and stash that under the sink for the foodstuff. I also have a garbage disposal that takes a lot of the food scraped off the plates.
Any of the other containers, that can't be recycled like plastic and such, I put into a separate large galvanized bucket that I keep in the pantry. We have some great containers from our local trash company. Once my bucket is full, I can dump it into the trash container and I don't use any plastic at all since all the yucky stuff went into the compost bucket.
The buckets are found at your local hardware store or garden center. They aren't as big as a trash can but some do have lids. I think I have even seen some at container stores. If you have a recycling center in your area, they can usually tell you where you can purchase items to help with recycling without using plastic. Hope that helps.
In our house, we separate all food-based items to be given to our neighbor's pig, putting it in a reusable plastic pail. Plastic bottles are washed and given to people buying liquids in bulk that need to re-package them to sell. We buy zip-lock plastic bags and wash them out after each use. One bag can be used 4 or 5 times, greatly reducing the number of bags that we need to buy. We also use the plastic storage containers to send lunches to school, as others have mentioned.
I have heard that environmentally friendly plastic bags have been developed (see links) that will disintegrate in the environment (land fills, oceans, lakes, etc.) made from bio-products (corn sugar, etc).
Instead of using a sandwich bag, get a plastic reusable container that fits what you need. Just clean it and re-use!
I would suggest something like a large canvas bag for the trash as long as you don't put liquids in it. And you would be able to wash it out.
For the sandwiches, I would suggest wax paper, or the reusable sandwich size containers. If you don't like the smell that seems to stay in the plastic containers, and if baking soda doesn't get the smell out, you can use the sandwich shape pyrexware. I know that pyrex would be less convenient, but I think they maybe overall safer for your food and especially safer when re-heating foods. I have recently heard that when you freeze liquids (and possibly solid food as well) in plastic, that toxins are released into the food from the plastic. Not good. I like using pyrex for everything anyway because I really detest the plastic smells. They have such a huge selection of sizes and shapes for pyrex containers that also have tight fitting lids as well... good luck and I hope this helps.
some store sell the unbleached wax paper bags or the heavier plastic bags that can be reused. if you are able to compost the natural rubbush and recycle containers there won't be lots of trash to go in the bags.
Make your meals earth-friendly. When packing a lunch, put sandwiches, chips, etc. in reusable plastic containers instead of sandwich bags. Carry your drink in a washable thermos bottle, and your lunch in a reusable lunch container. For meals at home, put leftover food in hard plastic washable and reusable containers. (You could save glass jars and deli containers for this!)
Well I guess we are going back to basics.. When I was a kid, we wraped up the garbage in old newpapers and trew in garbage cans , but now a gar, disposal will cut down on some of it, use wax paper for wraping up your sand, or use plastic containers/lids. use cloth shoping bags. We need to elem. plasic and cut down on paper products also.
Paper bags instead of plastic. The other thing to do is maximize the amount of usage you can get per bag. A platic bag that carries groceries, can then be used to carry supplies, line a trash can, used to package dirty diapers, etc. We try to 'reuse' plastic as much as we can around our home.
If you use paper bags for your garbage, you are being much more eco-friendly. Also, when you recycle and use those containers, your trash bags will be much smaller and eco-friendly as well.
For lunches I never EVER use plastic or even paper. I also don't use Gladware because it breaks much easier than Tupperware. Tupperware is my absolute favorite purchase for saving bags at lunchtime. It's also 100% replaceable if it ever breaks, and no other plastic manufacturing company does that. My mom has Tupperware from the 50's that survived her family!
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