Best Trash Bags

Find out which of the 10 bags we tested can hold a heavy load

Consumer Reports magazine: June 2012

We put each bag in wastebaskets and tossed in items until the bags broke when lifted.

If you're left holding the bag, you want the bag to be holding the trash, not spilling it onto the kitchen floor. But in tests of 10 tall kitchen bags, the top-selling type, we found big differences in performance.

Best of all were Glad Drawstring Stronger with Less Plastic and Hefty The Gripper. Hoisted aloft by a pulley apparatus, they and other high-rated bags held about 50 pounds of barbells before stretching like taffy and dropping their load. The lowest-rated bag, Member's Mark (Sam's Club), failed with about 35 pounds. The top two have other advantages. The Glad bag is advertised as using less plastic, based on thickness: Its maker says the top section is 0.95 mils thick; the rest, 0.78 mils thick. Most other bags are about 0.9 mils throughout. The Hefty bag has a stretchable drawstring to help hold it to a wastebasket rim.

Don't buy only by brand: Although Glad ForceFlex was almost as good as its brandmate, Hefty CinchSak did a bit worse than Hefty The Gripper. Paying more doesn't get you a better bag: A 7-cent Kirkland Signature bag outscored a 23-cent Ultra Tuf.

Bottom line. For heavy use, try one of the Recommended products, for 14 to 16 cents apiece. If you use bags for light trash, as in a bathroom, consider the less-pricey Kirkland Signature.

See the Ratings charts as they originally appeared in the June 2012 issue of Consumer Reports Magazine.

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