It feels so strange and wasteful to BUY something that's whole purpose is to go straight to a landfill.
Years ago, I ditched regular kitchen trash cans and liners. Whenever I eat up a bag of popcorn, its bag becomes a little trash receptacle. Whenever I drink a pack of sparkling water, the box becomes my new recycling bin. Those plastic shipping bags everyone always has hundreds up saved under their kitchen sink? That's my go-to trash can. Hang it from a doorknob, good to go. Pinterest-worthy? No. But, I'm not exactly sure why there's such a weird social convention around having cute, stylish trash cans.
I can't wrap my head around why I would ever go out and buy a giant kitchen trash that takes up floorspace in my kitchen, and then regularly pay for plastic liners to keep it full. Plus, I like how easy it is to take out the smaller amounts of trash bit by bit than to haul I giant rotten leaky bag to the dumpster.
No shade to folks who are happy with their kitchen trash cans and buying trash liners, but I just personally can't ever imagine going back!
I NEVER buy trash bags, because my trash is my trash bags
byu/VelvetNomad_ inFrugal
Posted by VelvetNomad_
42 Comments
Those big amazon shipment bags work great.
The issue is throwing away wet foods, like curry, soup, etc. It can leak through boxes and stain the trashcan inside. Which can attract critters/rodents.
Leaks and it’s easier to throw away one big trash bag over 10 small ones (I have to take my trash to a dumpster)
I really won’t lose sleep over 10 cents a trash bag
That may work for you but probably doesn’t work for people with multiple kids or people that seriously cook. I recently threw away a turkey that I’d made stock with. That isn’t going to fit in a small shopping bag.
Trash bags are 10 cents each. You belong in r/Frugal_Jerk/
The trash service at my apartment requires regular sized trash bags, tied shut and no bulk/boxes. Pain in my ass, but I pay for it regardless of if I use it
I use the plastic sacks charities constantly post through my letterbox for clothes and textiles collections.
Maybe if you live alone, yes. But it seems like a lot of work.
That’s probably how I’d live my life too if I was single and living alone. All the little ziplock plastic bags my husband runs through drives me crazy. I never use those, but the big trash in the kitchen is way more convenient with a family.
My municipal trash company requires special bags for compostable trash (that they provide).
And all the other fractions except for glass and metal must also be in closed bags.
Pretty much. A cardboard box or paper bag becomes the trash bag for the cardboard & paper. The biggest plastic container becomes the trash bag for the plastic & metal containers. I only throw out a glass container once or twice a month, so I just drop it off in the glass recycling when I pass by. And the soy shopping bags and produce-weighing bags from the supermarket become the trash bags for organic and “what category is this item anyway?” trash.
Some of you just try to convince yourself such crazy shit. Buying a $20 trash can that lasts literally forever is not some ridiculous use of your money. It’s not a “weird social convention” to want trash in a sturdy container with a lid, with a large enough capacity that we don’t have to take trash out 5 times a day.
My town has outlawed those little plastic shopping bags, so that wouldn’t work in a lot of place either.
I’ve been using bread bags instead of baggies. Use them, wash them out, dry them and use them again.
you’re as wasteful as anyone buying trash bags, no matter how much you think you’re not, you should have no significant amounts of garbage, between recycling bins and green bin (organics) i had a tiny bag of garbage every 2 months on a 2 persons household
As we say in the barn, feed gets stored in trash cans and trash gets thrown out in feed sacks.
I reuse plastic grocery bags as trash bags but I need bigger ones for my kitchen. Bags are so cheap it doesn’t matter much anyway.
Our trash bags are clear.
Recycling in blue bags.
Compost in a bucket
Personally, with cats at home who would totally happily chew on things like dental floss or chicken bones that would send them to the ER, I’ll stick with trash cans with a lid, please.
I compost or recycle the majority of my “garbage”. I recently saw a video where plastic was shredded then melted down to make bricks and things in molds.
I can make the majority of the items they used. But the heated injection molder I would need to buy.
If I did this I would have a lot less trash. Everything comes in plastic containers!!!!
Our service requires everything in trashbags. Good on you to reduce!
Well, you would probably flip to know that our garbage is picked up twice a week. I’m guessing it’s because we are in a hot humid climate. We only take our garbage to the curb once a week because it takes us that long to fill up the can, and even then, it’s usually not full.
My mom used to do what you do. She did it to be frugal because she had to watch her money
We buy Costco‘s trash bags, 20 bucks for 200 of them and they last us well over a year.
I was spending a lot of time dog sitting for a wealthy friend of mine and she had one of those automatic opening garbage cans, and I fell in love with it. And I bought one. And I love it. It’s so easy to scrape plates because it stays open and both hands are free. Now when I go to other peoples houses, I’m waving my hand because I’m so used to doing it at my house.
Oh, I find uses for the plastic bags we get at the store. But I can’t do what my mom did and have them hanging off of a door knob because my dog would help himself. Then he would get sick and vet bills.
I’m glad it works for your situation though🙂
I do this with the doorknob and plastic bag. It works well. I dont buy plastic drinks so none of that needs to be thrown but yeah its easier that way.
I live in a country where recycling must be separated.
Trash and food waste must be placed in specific bags that I pay for.
So for recycling, I can do this; for trash or food waste, I cannot.
My friend works in trash .. .you are the people they talk about that don’t use bags. And if you have a dog or a cat please bag their poop ..it’s disgusting to just put all that in a trash can and expect the trash company to dump it. It’s gross
Absolutely get the eco-friendly/sustainable side of this. I’ve been buying non-plastic, compostable trash bags for over a year and a half, and I will never go back to plastic. I also throw a lot more food in the outdoor compost, so less of that ends up in landfills and inside trash is much less gross. Otherwise, I try to re-use old containers where possible and just toss those in my big bin as needed.
Where we live, we have to *pay* for those small plastic shopping bags. Actual kitchen trash bags are about the same price, are much bigger, and are more reliable. In Europe, those bags are even more expensive. A “YMMV” seems appropriate here.
i do this frequently! we have a trash can and use it, but i frequently just hang a grocery bag up and take it out nightly after i’m done. 🤷🏻♀️ my trash can is only like 30’ from my kitchen and i go outside and chill most nights so it’s whatever.
Sounds like you just have a bunch of trash all over your house. Even if it’s contained it sounds awful to have a bunch of little grocery bags full of trash hanging off doors or in boxes across the floor.
Trash cans hide the sight and smell. I don’t want to look at my trash or smell it all day.
I buy trashbags because no, I don’t have hundreds of plastic shopping bags as they’re not given out for free in Europe. I have however eliminated the need for trashbags for recyclables by getting a DIMPA bag in IKEA, which unlike a regular trashcan can be easily picked up and carried down to the sorting containers outside the building.
Especially if you compost, wasting money and resources on plastic on trash bags seems so illogical.
I was at a friends last week and she sent me home with a bunch of random bags she was gonna throw away. Made my day!
i put all of mine into an empty and cleaned fake Parmesan shaker… then you can pull them out as you go. I can fit about 50 in a medium one.
I could decorate the container I guess, but I haven’t…
This sounds like an annoying way to live. Imagine having company over, how could they possibly resist roasting you for refusing to use a trash can??
I do this with recycling and dry wastebasket trash. I have a proper one in the kitchen.
My municipality requires stuff to be bagged in normal trash bags for collection.
I’m glad that works for you.
I am pleased to use trash bags from Sam’s in my simple human trash can.
While this is great for you, it’s just not feasible when you have a family with young kids.
Sounds like you should go full zerowaste
This is the dumbest frugal hack
I don’t know about anywhere else, but my trash company requires trash be bagged. And we don’t get plastic bags from the store anymore – when I did, they got reused for animal waste, bathroom trash, you know, smaller grosser stuff.
Also, I like having a trashcan. I am willing to give up two square feet of floor space to have a trashcan with a lid. Especially since I have dogs.
…this feels like the same argument as the redditor last week who told me washcloths were a scam, and just another way for big corporations to sell us more things we don’t need.
While i do use plastic bag-ish mailers as liners for small trash cans (bathroom, guest room), I’m not giving up my kitchen trash bags – but I have a large family, so the large bags make sense. for us.
Loose chopsticks and wet garbage will always be your enemy