Author Topic: Mustachian alternative to garbage bags?  (Read 8510 times)

vagon

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Mustachian alternative to garbage bags?
« on: September 26, 2014, 01:03:12 AM »
What are you guys using?
Just use the bucket itself?

deborah

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Re: Mustachian alternative to garbage bags?
« Reply #1 on: September 26, 2014, 01:18:29 AM »
Before plastic bags became the norm, people had rubbish bins.

We wrapped our rubbish in newspaper (the SMH would be good for this if it is still the same size). You took about 8 sheets (flat, nothing folded) and pulled 4 sheets a bit lower than the other 4 so you ended with a square. You put your rubbish in the top part on  the diagonal, and folded the top triangle over it, and the side triangles over it, and then rolled it up. You took your rubbish to the rubbish tin and put it in. No mess.

Later on, supermarkets became the norm, and they sold everything in big cardboard bags (about the same size as plastic shopping bags today). You put your clean rubbish in this, and the messy stuff got wrapped in half size newspaper, and put in the bag and taken out to the rubbish bin.

Then plastic bags came onto the scene, and you know the rest of the story.

Unfortunately, although they have banned plastic bags where I live, people now BUY plastic bags for their rubbish. They don't seem to remember that newspaper works just as well.

kaetana

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Re: Mustachian alternative to garbage bags?
« Reply #2 on: September 26, 2014, 06:21:59 AM »
Before plastic bags became the norm, people had rubbish bins.

We wrapped our rubbish in newspaper (the SMH would be good for this if it is still the same size). You took about 8 sheets (flat, nothing folded) and pulled 4 sheets a bit lower than the other 4 so you ended with a square. You put your rubbish in the top part on  the diagonal, and folded the top triangle over it, and the side triangles over it, and then rolled it up. You took your rubbish to the rubbish tin and put it in. No mess.

Later on, supermarkets became the norm, and they sold everything in big cardboard bags (about the same size as plastic shopping bags today). You put your clean rubbish in this, and the messy stuff got wrapped in half size newspaper, and put in the bag and taken out to the rubbish bin.

Then plastic bags came onto the scene, and you know the rest of the story.

Unfortunately, although they have banned plastic bags where I live, people now BUY plastic bags for their rubbish. They don't seem to remember that newspaper works just as well.

Funnily enough, if I tried to switch to newspapers, I would still have to buy them! I haven't read a newspaper in years.

AH013

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Re: Mustachian alternative to garbage bags?
« Reply #3 on: September 26, 2014, 06:45:14 AM »
When I buy stuff from stores they usually put it in plastic bags.  They make excellent trash liners, albeit my neighbors comment it can't fit as much as their 10 gallon hefty bags they use in their kitchen.

jsalazar92

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Re: Mustachian alternative to garbage bags?
« Reply #4 on: September 26, 2014, 08:43:56 AM »
I woke up with this in mind too, 10 gallon bags are cool but expensive and all i do to them is throw them out..
i currently use a mix between supermarket plastic bags for small stuff and 10gallon ones for the kitchen.

RWD

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Re: Mustachian alternative to garbage bags?
« Reply #5 on: September 26, 2014, 09:09:47 AM »
When I buy stuff from stores they usually put it in plastic bags.  They make excellent trash liners, albeit my neighbors comment it can't fit as much as their 10 gallon hefty bags they use in their kitchen.

This is what we do as well. For bigger trash items I usually keep around an empty cat food or litter bag and then just throw the whole thing out when it gets full.

2ndTimer

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Re: Mustachian alternative to garbage bags?
« Reply #6 on: September 26, 2014, 09:42:33 AM »
We use cat food bags, 50 lb. flour bags or pellet bags (we have a pellet stove and pellets come in 40lb. bags. 

Holyoak

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Re: Mustachian alternative to garbage bags?
« Reply #7 on: September 26, 2014, 09:49:07 AM »
When I worked at a pharmaceutical bottling plant, my primary job was to load huge clear plastic bags of pills/tablets into vibra hoppers to fill bottles.  These bags would normally get thrown out; I kept them as free 50 gal garbage bags.  Super thick mils, and strong.  Also kept my disposable bright white Tyvek over jacket and pants to use for painting, winter hunting camouflage, etc.

Just an aside, but talk about FIRE if you were a drug criminal...  Every day, I loaded countless millions of dollars worth of street value Oxycontin and Vicodin into hoppers at about 100 lb a bag, all day, every day.  One heist of a few of these bags would have you set for life, and it is AMAZING how much product was bottled...  I mean every few minutes., and the hoppers would be dry!

MicroRN

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Re: Mustachian alternative to garbage bags?
« Reply #8 on: September 26, 2014, 11:16:24 AM »
First of all we try to reduce trash as much as possible, which I think is the most Mustachian way.  We have unlimited recycling and have commercial composting, which can take a lot of things that backyard composting can't (like meat, dairy, and even pizza boxes).  We use bags from other products, like cat food or bread, or if we order something from Amazon there's frequently a plastic bag inside.  Lastly, we use plastic grocery bags. 

Larger items we often throw straight in the trash can.  However, I know some areas require that you bag garbage and you can be fined if you don't. 

Dollarbill49

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Re: Mustachian alternative to garbage bags?
« Reply #9 on: September 26, 2014, 12:15:54 PM »
Newspapers?  What are those?  Rather Anti Mustachian wouldn't you say?  One can get all the news they want for free on the internet.

Philociraptor

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Re: Mustachian alternative to garbage bags?
« Reply #10 on: September 26, 2014, 12:27:44 PM »
We use traditional garbage bags (free through my work), but we only go through about 2 13-gallon kitchen bags a week between myself, my wife, and my 2 unMustachian roommates. Plus a big green recycling bin once a week. 

sobezen

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Re: Mustachian alternative to garbage bags?
« Reply #11 on: September 26, 2014, 03:59:40 PM »
For trash I use newspaper layers for food scraps and compost items. We have separate bins for recycling too. Plastic degradable bags for doggie poop. That's about it, rarely use bags that are not cloth or reusable or a backpack.

dragoncar

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Re: Mustachian alternative to garbage bags?
« Reply #12 on: September 26, 2014, 04:28:20 PM »
Newspapers?  What are those?  Rather Anti Mustachian wouldn't you say?  One can get all the news they want for free on the internet.

What I do is stick all my rubbish in my CDROM slot and then throw away the computer.  No mess!

deborah

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Re: Mustachian alternative to garbage bags?
« Reply #13 on: September 26, 2014, 04:45:49 PM »
Newspapers?  What are those?  Rather Anti Mustachian wouldn't you say?  One can get all the news they want for free on the internet.
Well, I was talking about the days before the internet. However, you could easily do the same today, as there is such a thing as "junk mail", which creates vastly more paper waste than newspapers used to. If you have a "no junk mail" sticker, you could always collect your neighbour's discarded junk mail to use in this way ;). I assumed the OP was looking for an alternative to plastic bags - including plastic shopping bags which are banned in the area where I live (we have to take bags to the shops with us, and the checkout person uses our bags to fill with groceries).

There is increasing talk about doing this in more places because of the environmental impact of shopping bags (particularly when used in landfill).

Beric01

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Re: Mustachian alternative to garbage bags?
« Reply #14 on: September 26, 2014, 04:49:35 PM »
My apartment requires all trash to be in a plastic bag before going down the chute. So I just bought a bunch of large cheap bags from Target. This is as cheap as it's gonna get.

You really don't want to use just the trash bin without bags anyway, as some stuff gets stuck.

deborah

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Re: Mustachian alternative to garbage bags?
« Reply #15 on: September 26, 2014, 05:02:39 PM »
My apartment requires all trash to be in a plastic bag before going down the chute. So I just bought a bunch of large cheap bags from Target. This is as cheap as it's gonna get.

You really don't want to use just the trash bin without bags anyway, as some stuff gets stuck.
You don't take it down yourself?

Seņora Savings

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Re: Mustachian alternative to garbage bags?
« Reply #16 on: September 26, 2014, 05:11:16 PM »
If your spending a noticeable amount on garbage bags you have garbage problem, not a garbage bag problem.

If it's wet, it can probably be composted, if not it can stay in the trash can for
ages.  I haven't taken my kitchen trash out in three weeks, it's been months since I put my city bin out.

I worry more about the money I spend on garbage pickup, I rent now and don't have a choice, when I buy I plan to opt out of city pickup and drive to the dump once a year.

Check out the Zero Waste Home blog, she's has really specific ideas on reducing waste.

vagon

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Re: Mustachian alternative to garbage bags?
« Reply #17 on: September 26, 2014, 05:23:43 PM »
Thanks guys, good answers all.

To clarify I'm not spending huge amounts on them, it just seemed to me to be a good way to optimise.

I assumed the OP was looking for an alternative to plastic bags - including plastic shopping bags which are banned in the area where I live (we have to take bags to the shops with us, and the checkout person uses our bags to fill with groceries).

Yep I was! Not that I dont reuse shopping bags for waste (they're not banned for me), it just seems like its still a waste at some level to use plastic bags at all.

My biggest worry is meat scraps, any specific tips for them?

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Re: Mustachian alternative to garbage bags?
« Reply #18 on: September 26, 2014, 05:32:17 PM »
We don't eat meat, so no help there.

In the kitchen, we use a paper bag that we get from the grocery store to line the trash can.   But, between eating leftovers, the dog, the chickens, and a full bucket a day of compost (no liner there), and recycling (paper, plastic, glass, aluminum) we only fill up about grocery paper bag of trash a week (for a family of 3 plus a teen on weekends).   

My best advice is instead of worrying about the type of liner, worry about trying to cut back on trash through eating leftovers, eating more whole plants, composting, and recycling as much as possible.

deborah

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Re: Mustachian alternative to garbage bags?
« Reply #19 on: September 26, 2014, 05:40:07 PM »
My biggest worry is meat scraps, any specific tips for them?
That's why the newspaper method had 4 sheets - meat fat soaks in a bit and needs a couple of layers.

Beric01

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Re: Mustachian alternative to garbage bags?
« Reply #20 on: September 26, 2014, 05:45:06 PM »
My apartment requires all trash to be in a plastic bag before going down the chute. So I just bought a bunch of large cheap bags from Target. This is as cheap as it's gonna get.

You really don't want to use just the trash bin without bags anyway, as some stuff gets stuck.
You don't take it down yourself?

It's in an enclosed area.

TeresaB

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Re: Mustachian alternative to garbage bags?
« Reply #21 on: September 27, 2014, 12:21:39 PM »
My apartment requires all trash to be in a plastic bag before going down the chute. So I just bought a bunch of large cheap bags from Target. This is as cheap as it's gonna get.

You really don't want to use just the trash bin without bags anyway, as some stuff gets stuck.
You don't take it down yourself?

It's in an enclosed area.
Yeah, I don't have access to our trash dumpsters either. Just the recycling ones.

NinetyFour

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Re: Mustachian alternative to garbage bags?
« Reply #22 on: September 28, 2014, 11:30:56 AM »
I agree that the best thing to do is to reduce the amount you need to throw out.

I don't eat meat, so I do not have to deal with meat scraps, but one idea for them might be to stick them in the freezer until right before you have to pitch them.  That way, they are not leaking/decomposing while waiting to be tossed.

Also, a few companies make plastic bags (of different sizes) that are biodegradable.

I remember hearing that when the authorities were searching for the Malaysian airplane in the Indian Ocean, they thought they might have spotted debris from the airplane, but upon closer inspection, the objects were huge masses of plastic rubbish.  Ugh.

Greg

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Re: Mustachian alternative to garbage bags?
« Reply #23 on: September 28, 2014, 12:38:37 PM »
The only trash can I use a bag in is the kitchen one, others I don't bother.  I have been stockpiling plastic store bags (the kind that your purchase is put in) for a long time, so I won't have to get resourceful for a couple of years.  Our kitchen trash can is small enough that the common plastic handle bag from say, Home Depot fits and is good for a week's trash for us.

I'm guessing on the amount of time I have, but plastic bags were recently banned in my area so we'll see.  The newspaper idea works, I remember my grandparents doing that.

deborah

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Re: Mustachian alternative to garbage bags?
« Reply #24 on: September 28, 2014, 02:07:55 PM »
Also, a few companies make plastic bags (of different sizes) that are biodegradable.
However, biodegradable bags do not biodegrade unless they are exposed In most rubbish dumps there are many many undegraded biodegradable bags!
I remember hearing that when the authorities were searching for the Malaysian airplane in the Indian Ocean, they thought they might have spotted debris from the airplane, but upon closer inspection, the objects were huge masses of plastic rubbish.  Ugh.
Absolutely correct.

 

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