BioBag (1) - Compostable Tall 49.2l Food Scrap Bags - 12 CT

As a resident of Seattle, we have to put our food waste into the biomass waste bin (the one that combines food waste and yard waste). I also learned that there is a difference between biodegradeable bags and compostable bags; compostable bags break down much faster without leaving small pieces of plastic behind. We needed to get compostable bags in order to work with the city's waste collection.Since we cook a lot for a family of four, I wanted 13 gallon sized compostable bags (which are the size of regular kitchen trash bags) instead of the much smaller capacity food waste bins commonly sold around the city. There are only a handful of options for 13 gallon sized compostable bags certified for use.Unlike yard waste, food waste degrades and smells bad very quickly. The most problematic part for a compostable bag is that food waste has a lot of liquid or the food waste breaks down into liquid fairly quickly. Water will then activate the break down process.BioBag is compostable and is certified, but it suffers from the leakage problem. I had to take out the food waste very quickly or else I would need to have a large clean up afterwards. Thanks to my brilliant wife, I start the double bag to extend the life of the compostable bags. I have tried two brands for several months, and BioBag leaks far more than Stout EcoSafe 6400. I don't recommend the current formulation of BioBag.

3 stars for the bags themselves. My experience with the bags has been good, not great. They do appear to break down over time. The box says to use them within one year, but there is no date stamp, so you cannot know how long they have sat on a shelf. I've purchased 2 sets of these bags. About 10 months after I purchased the first set, the bags started coming apart and leaking into the trash can. I used the second set within 4 months and I've had no problems.1 star for pricing. The price has now almost doubled. Was ~$19 in October. Now this 4-box set is ~$34.Sounds like the mfg is boosting the price to make more profits.At $19, they were expensive, but I was willing to pay it. I will not pay $34 for these bags.Update 2015.10.12: I see the price has come back down to $20 for a set of 4 boxes. And boxes are now date stamped with quarter and year. Which is all good. However, I cannot see the date stamp when I order online, so I am buying locally at a little more per box ($5.60), but I can see the date stamp and will not purchase if already close to a year old

I purchased these to use as regular trash bags. Most of my garbage is biodegradable/compostable but NYC is so behind the times they don't have a decent city compost pickup nor am I interested in bringing only a very select portion of my compostables to the farmers markets once a week. As a west coast transplant it's seriously apalling to me how backwards this city is. In any case, these bags are just ok. My biggest issue with these bags is how quickly they break down when there is anything even remotely moist in the bag. I have only used them in colder weather, I have no idea how they will hold up in the hot humid summer. Also my trash is picked up 2x per week.A few tips to improve your experience: 1) Line the bottom of your garbage bag/can with a few pages from a newspaper or catalog or other thick paper source you are probably just going to recycle. This will soak up any liquids and reinforce the bottom of the bag. 2) Take out your garbage daily. These bags disintegrate when wet. 3) If your bag seems pretty wet, double bag it. It will likely decompose in your trash can leaving you a mess to clean up.Another trick I use with these bags is since I take my garbage out daily and minimize the amount of garbage I'm putting in there, I only fill up a small portion of the bag. I push all the air out of the bag and tie it super tight. Then I wrap up the ball of tied off garbage in the tail part I tied off and tie that up. That actually works as a double bag solution and prevents the bag from breaking down too much.I'm currently experimenting with other brands of bags because I really dislike how these degrade so quickly. However, I like that I know that these will break down and I know what's in them.

We have two simplehuman step-to-open trashcans that are identical except for the color, one for compost and one for garbage. They have a rectangular opening that is longer and narrower than an ordinary trashcan. I use regular 13-gallon trashbags on the one for garbage, and use these for the one that is compost. I have no problem with the fit of the ordinary trashbags, but these just don't quite fit and I must stretch them to get them to work. That's annoying, but in general I can live with it.If that were the only issue they would be 4 stars. The additional problem is that sometimes they break when stretching to fit because the material isn't that stretchy. And once they tear at all you can't use them at all because they will just tear all the way to the bottom, and you have to toss them out.So I think these should be made a little bigger to account for the fact that they don't stretch far, rather than making them the same size as (or maybe even slightly smaller than) regular trashbags. If they were a little bigger I'd give them five stars because they are a good price on a completely compostable bag.Two other comments. First, don't leave them in the can more than a few days, esp. with any liquid in them, or you risk having the bottom bust out. That's understandable, since they are compostable, but it just is not pleasant to have to pick up after the bottom busts out. Also, we've had several boxes that were apparently older (lighter green color of bag) and those don't stretch at all, making them completely unusable.

Finally! This is the only manufacturer I found that makes tall kitchen-sized trash bags (13 gallons). Everyone else seems to think 3 gallons is plenty. Well, if you have a family or if you use a lot of fresh produce, or juice at home, 3 gallons just won't cut it.We have a kitchen bin just for compost, and we use this as a liner. We actually use two, because they are just too thin. And that's why I've dinged it one star - in terms of convenience, having to use two is a bummer. But whatever.PROS:- Because this is certified compostable, it can be used to gather your kitchen scraps and dumped right in the yard waste bin. YAY!- It fits a regular kitchen trash bin. No more little 3 gallon bucket on the counter that won't contain the greens from a bunch of beetroots. YAY.- reduces my use of plastic trash bags. I don't use these for trash. (They're very delicate, and I think if I dumped something tough it would just puncture it.) But I have a lot less trash (down by 1/2 to 2/3) since I've been collecting my kitchen scraps in the biobag, so in that respect, it's absolutely reducing my plastic bag footprint.- Reducing our trash has allowed us to scale down our trash-bin sized, reducing our monthly city bill. Again, YAY.CONS:- Have to double bag it. We only take our compost out to the yard waste bin twice a week, and we have to double bag as a single bag will leak. On the plus side, it means it's working as intended: i.e. it decomposes. So I can't ding it too badly on that.- Does not last more than a few days when it's loaded with food scraps. Like point above, that's because it's working as advertised.Overall, we rely on these to bag our kitchen scraps, and were generally very happy. I would love a stronger, less leaky version, but until then, I will double bag. Four solid stars.