The Best Products NOT Made in China | notochina.org

Finding a decent garbage bag not made in China has been an obsession of mine since my state banned plastic shopping bags. Yes, I know those were made in China (especially the ones that tore apart the second you used them), but at least I could get multiple uses out of them—as a shopping bag, as a garbage bag, and occasionally as my man-purse. But since the ban I don't have any less garbage, but now I have the pleasure of having to go BUY plastic from China myself that my grocery store bought for me a few years ago, and those garbage bags are usually thicker, less biodegradable, and much worse for the environment. Thanks, New York State.

Sadly some of my favorite brands like SimpleHuman are made in China. But there are lots of great alternatives.

I've been looking all over and I found some great options. I'm posting this on the forum and not a featured blog post because I sense this list will change constantly. Would love to hear what everyone else out there is finding.

1. Extra large (55 gallon and up) trash bags

Reli. 55-60 Gallon Trash Bags Heavy Duty - Consumer reports reported the Reli does exceptionally well in tests and are among the most affordable.

Tasker 95-96 Gallon Heavy Duty Trash Bags - Great for rollaway cans and consistently top-rated. Made in the USA. Also available in 55-60 gallon.

Veska 95-96 Gallon Heavy Duty Trash Bags - Another great choice for jumbo bags, made in the USA. Also available in 55-60 gallon.

2. Large (30 gallon) trash bags

Amazon Basics Multipurpose Drawstring Trash Bags - Shockingly, these are made in the USA (with "domestic and imported ingredients", of course). But to find one Amazon Basics product that's not just a shell for a China manufacturer is exciting. It has great reviews on Amazon and was recommended by GearLab.

Fuxury 30-33 Gallon Trash Bags - Made in the USA.

3. Kitchen (13 gallon) trash bags

Hefty Ultra Strong Tall Kitchen Trash Bags - The top selling trash bag on Amazon, and it's made in the USA.

Glad Tall Kitchen Drawstring Trash Bags - Made in the USA "of global components".

Amazon Basics Tall Kitchen Drawstring Bag -

Who Gives a Crap Medium Garbage Bags - Made in Portugal from 100% recycled plastic

4. Small (4 gallon) bathroom or wastepaper basket trash bags

Glad Small Trash Bags 4 Gallon - Made in Thailand

Hefty Small Trash Bags - Made in Thailand

Color Scents Small Trash Bags - Made in the USA

5. Plastic Shopping (T-Shirt) bags

These are the bags that I am obsessed with finding—they're literally the same bags that grocery stores used to procure from. I think the reason you see bizarre, unrecognizable brand names is because these were once for commercial and industrial use only, but consumers are starting to figure out that it's better to pay 3 cents a bag (or in some cases as low as 1.9 cents a bag) instead of 14 cents a bag for something that's going into the trash anyway.

I found a vendor I loved years ago called "Tashibox" that made these out of Southeast Area, but one day I got a huge shipment of bags fro them that ripped apart at the slightest weight (you guessed it—they changed manufacturing to China). Since then I've been obsessed with never being "ripped" off again. Some great options:

Fuxury 1000 Count Thank You Plastic Bags - Made in USA (company based in California)

Glotoch Plastic Thank you Bags - Made in USA (company based in California)

Poly-America T-Shirt Carry Out Bags - Found this great one at Sam's Club, made in the USA. This is the brand I went with (I'm not a Sam's Club member, but I paid the non-member surcharge and STILL got a better deal than on Amazon) because it was on sale.