Product Sustainability

Glad® Trash Bags

Working to create more eco-friendly Garbage Bags

Introduced in 2004, Glad® ForceFlex® trash bags have changed the way consumers handle garbage. Through a unique diamond texture that allows the bag to stretch around objects to help prevent rips and tears, consumers can fill it, stretch it and stuff it with just about anything. The stretch is what makes it strong.

The Glad® ForceFlex® design saves more than 1 million pounds of plastic film per year than the previous Glad® trash bag.* The Glad Manufacturing Company reuses nearly all rejected product or scrap plastic, and what it cannot use is sent to a third party for recycling. We also help save energy and waste by including "wide-spec" resin (the "raw" form of plastic) in Glad® trash bags, which might otherwise have to be reworked or scrapped by resin suppliers. In recent years, we have reduced packaging material for 32 Glad® trash bag product items by an average of 45 percent, resulting in a significant reduction in the use of paper board and improved freight efficiency.

Glad works closely with the American Red Cross to assist with disaster relief clean-up efforts. Additionally, for more than 25 years, Glad has supported Keep America Beautiful in its efforts to improve communities across the U.S. through litter prevention, waste reduction and beautification initiatives. Glad donates 3 million trash bags per year to Keep America Beautiful.

The Glad Compostable bags available in Canada are completely biodegradable. These bags address sustainability on two fronts. First, they are 100-percent compostable, meaning they disintegrate rapidly into compost that supports plant life. Second, the bags are made from annually renewable plant resources.

*The Glad® ForceFlex® design saves more than 1 million pounds of plastic film per year than the previous Glad® trash bag. Rather than made from thicker plastic, the bags are made from more flexible plastic that allows the bag to stretch around objects instead of letting them poke through. Glad is continually looking at ways to make trash bags thinner and stronger in order to reduce the amount of plastic going into landfills. Calculations based on the use of 3.5 bags per household per week.