Since I live in a rental apartment building in New York City, trash collection (transferring small white plastic bags into big black plastic bags and moving those bags to the curb for pickup) is taken care of by a superintendent. This means I don’t have to buy outdoor garbage bags although I do use kitchen bags. And I hate to admit it but I buy standard, plastic kitchen bags. For months, I struggled with delicate, corn-based biodegradable bags. They just weren’t tough enough (and quite a bit more expensive) and a couple of times I ended up making colossal messes in my hallway. Having given up on biodegradable trash bags, my current mission is to generate less trash.

 

For those like me who have shied away from biodegradable bags because of their prohibitive cost and flimsy composition, Green Genius is here to save the day. The company’s line of hefty (3-ply strength!), competitively priced drawstring outdoor garbage and tall kitchen bags haven’t appeared in brick and mortar stores yet (you can get them on Amazon.com or Green Home or request a free sample), but I’m hoping they will be there soon.

 

Here’s what sets Green Genius trash bags apart from the landfill-clogging pack: they’re made from 40 percent recycled plastic and meet ASTM D5511 standards for biodegradability (but not compostability) so they'll be sitting in landfills for just two years ... instead of forever. The secret ingredient that promotes accelerated decomposition in landfills is called EcoPure, a nutrient-based additive that makes plastic edible to non-plastic-eating microbes. Even though plastic is still obviously involved in the manufacture of the bags, the company plans to develop just-as-strong non-plastic products in the future. And speaking of the bags’ manufacture, they’re produced in an environmentally sensitive facility outside of Dallas.

 

Pretty cool. Need more convincing? Check out this video from the Green Genius folks, read some FAQS about plastic trash bag biodegradability, and sign up for a free sample. Also, while we’re on the topic of plastics, check out this powerful recent post from blogger Karl about the plastic-strewn beaches of Midway Island, one of the closest bodies of land to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

 

Via [Trend Hunter]