Clear Recycling Trash Bags

Clear recycling trash bags are often required as part of municipal recycling, yard waste, and trash programs. These trash bags have to be tear-resistant or strong enough to withstand the various hard-composition recyclables that households and businesses dispose of. Staples® has clear trash bags for recycling as well as heavy-duty industrial and medium-strength liner trash bags.

Clear Recycling Trash Bags Meet City and State Codes
Clear kitchen trash bags for recyclables make sense. They help make people aware of what they're discarding as recyclable items, and they allow recycling officials to keep an eye on what households and businesses are disposing of. The advanced sanitation and disposal system of New York City, for instance, requires clear bags as receptacles for glass, plastic, metal, beverage cartons, mixed paper (including shredded), and cardboard. It accepts 13 to 55-gallon clear trash bags, covering all recycling launch points, from small households to street-size receptacles.

Clear Recycling Trash Bags Have To Be Tough
Clear bags must be resistant to tears and punctures to stand up to sharp metal, plastic, and glass objects, or strong enough to hold heavy loads of recycled paper, including densely packed shredded paper. Many clear trash bags have strength ratings beyond medium and regular, extending to heavy, X-heavy, and super heavy. Both leakproof and strong clear trash bags are made from advanced polymer resins with hydrocarbon bonding molecules to produce specific bag compositions. Leakproof, tear-resistant clear bags are collectively called linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) bags whose bonded molecules can absorb impacts, including punctures. Stronger bags for heavier recycling needs are collectively called high-density polyethylene (HDPE) bags. “Hi-D” bags have an extremely tight cell structure that gives the bags extra tautness.

What Other Elements Make Clear Recycling Trash Bags Tough?
The construction of clear bags is also critical to their strength. Many bags have a star-sealed bottom rather than a single-row flat seal. Star-sealed bags have multiple folds of material at the bottom so they don't need additional gusset support, and they're sealed at five separate points. The multiple layering eliminates gaps where leaks may occur, lets them fit the shape of various recycling receptacles, and distributes weight evenly when the bag is lifted from the receptacle. Other tough clear trash bags have a non-seam tubular construction that minimizes side-splitting and also distributes weight more evenly.

Are Any Clear Recycling Trash Bags Made from Recycled Materials?
In a best of both worlds scenario, some clear bags for recycling do come from recycled material, including post-consumer content. Clear recyclable trash bags include those that are manufactured with reprocessed resins, so the bags retain all the strength of LLDPE bags but require two-thirds less petroleum-based material for their manufacture. The bags prevent extra resins from being deposited into the landfill and reduce out-gassing into the atmosphere.

What Size Are Clear Recycling Trash Bags?
Clear bags for recycling are available for small household recycling bins holding 7 to 10 gallons and all the way up to industrial round rubber containers holding 60 gallons. They also come in a wide variety of densities, from 0.35 to 4.0 mils, and many are designed specifically for different types of receptacles, including bins, wastepaper baskets, drum or cylinder receptacles, rectangular office and industrial receptacles, and round roadside receptacles. Staples also carries trash can liners for the garbage that accumulates throughout the home and office.