Alternatives to plastic bags for compost.

Personally I'd like to see smaller "bulk bags" which would be large enough to take a reasonable amount of stuff but small enough to be loaded into a car boot by 2 people. Handles to carry with, and maybe the option of a cover to reduce spillage. Loading bags would be easy enough with a hopper to fill the bags from.

As it is, all my plastic bags have to go in the bin. Unfortunately I've just no use for them. I used to use them for tip waste, once. These days though, if I need a tip run, I fill my green wheelie bin, tie the lid down with a roof rack strap, and simply chuck the whole bin in the boot as is. Then unload at the other end.

 

Something like these? Garden Waste Bag (3 Bags) 90L Refuse Large Heavy Duty Sacks Grass Leaves Rubbish 5060461630098 | eBay




I mainly use them to collect apples for pressing, put shopping in etc. and any other uses where I wouldn't want to put stuff in bags that have previously been used for horse poo, stuff for composting, pressed apple pulp, etc. Also much easier to put prunings in than old compost bags.

 

Honestly I don't like those plastic bags. They are okay to use and definitely not one-way, but after years of UV-radiation (aka the sun) they will fragment and leave lots of plastic fibres all around them if you are not careful.

So I prefer mortar buckets in different sizes (from 12 to 120 litres). You can get them really cheap in bulk at your local hardware store. They last almost a lifetime and can hold Liquids as well as sharp debris without breaking. And if you poke holes in them they even make decent root barriers or help repel mice gnawing your flower bulbs.

The bigger ones often have a broad overhanging rim that works great at repelling Slugs (cut off the top 20 cm, and set it around newly planted things)

 

Well you CAN stack them really good and where I live it's always "bring your own container or trailer". Then you can shovel it in there as much as you want, weigh it at the end and pay for what you have

 

I remember, China imposed a ban (2017) on certain wastes being imported into the country, mainly plastic. Thailand soon followed suit and imposed a similar ban on imported waste plastic. I know Biffa ended up being prosecuted in court for trying to send contaminated house hold waste mixed in with waste paper to China.

I import plastic planters and garden mesh from China, mainly because its all made with recycled plastic. Trying to source recycled plastic products in the UK has been the problem in the past, but things are changing though.

 

Very much like that! Might get a few of those myself. Thank you!

 

I understand that Germany is streets ahead of the rest of Europe (and the UK) with their programme of recycling packaging at point of sale, too. Which is admirable. I get very tired of the consumer being held responsible (and being taxed) for disposing of sur-packaging that we didn't ask for and don't want. The French supermarkets are making a start on providing 'loose' products that you put into your own containers.
The craze for 'no-dig' gardening will certainly sort out the cardboard and paper recycling situation . Won't be long now before folks will be queuing at the tips and fighting over the empty Amazon boxes
Polystyrene is the big bugbear. It's still being used for food and transport packaging, but AFAIK, it's not recyclable?

 

The compost that i use is in recyclable plastic bags. Now the dog food is in recyclable plastic bags, so they're slowly getting round to do it, but it takes time. The problem is would it be recycled when it's been collected.
This is from a year ago

 

Well "recyclable plastic" is a pleonasm like "wet water". Every plastic is recyclable if you actually recycle it.
But all to often it gets thrown into nature, buried or simply burned (which is by far the best of the three alternatives if you also use it to generate power or heating).

So it doesn't do any good to make everything "recyclable" (which 90% of the stuff already is) if you don't go the extra mile to actually recycle it at the end of life.