It’s no surprise that as a society we have become accustomed to using single-use plastic. It is everywhere you look. The sandwich bag you send to school with your child, the straw you sip your iced coffee through, and of course grocery store bags. And although we know our environment is in dire need of a change, at times it seems too daunting an issue to rectify.
These products were sent to us free of charge for review purposes. We were also compensated for this post. View our Disclosure to learn more about our process.
Making the Switch
After watching several documentaries on the number of microplastics that are polluting our planet, my family knew we had to take action. We may only be one household, but even big changes to reduce waste have to start somewhere. First, I got my husband on board with moving away from the 3-to 4 plastic water bottles that he guzzles down each day. Now that he has a reusable water bottle that he likes we have reduced one single-use item in our home.
For my next swap, I wanted to find an alternative to plastic bags. While I was still thinking over which brand I wanted to try first, HoldOn reached out to see if I would be willing to review their new products. I don’t know if you are a spiritual person, but I believe that sometimes the stars align and serendipity happens. And that is exactly what happened in this case. I was lucky enough to be able to test HoldOn’s home compostable trash bags (13 & 4-gallon sizes) and storage bags (sandwich and 1-gallon sizes) in my everyday life for the past three weeks. Each product is 100% compostable and breaks down in a matter of weeks without emitting toxic gases. You can either add the used bags to your home compost pile, your yard scraps bin, or even toss them in your regular trash bin. Read my final thoughts about the products below.
HoldOn bags are an all-new line of trash, kitchen, and storage bags made from compostable, plant-based materials that are heavy-duty, yet gentle on the earth. Our bags are just as convenient, strong, and easy to use as your typical trash and storage bags, but break down cleanly and have less impact on the environment.
13-Gallon Trash Bags
My main concern in switching to a compostable trash bag is quality. Will they stand up to my husband’s urge to compact our trash to shove as much as possible in each bag? To be honest, I think we all were expecting the bags to break open on the lawn at some point during our trial. But the trash bags are stronger than we anticipated. And I was thankful for that. Personally, I was sold within a few days. The thickness of each product felt right, the kitchen bags had the drawstring closure that we love so much, and I was digging the aesthetic of having a green trash bag. My husband needed some more time to decide if he wanted to give HoldOn his stamp of approval. A few runs to the dumpster later, he was ready to agree that we need to permanently switch to HoldOn’s home compostable bags.
4-Gallon Compost Bags
We have always been the house that reuses grocery store bags in our bathroom trash bins. However, with the plastic bag ban in Washington, our supplies have been running low. The thought of having a ban on using them at grocery stores but then us buying plastic bags for the bathroom seemed ridiculous. And I really never thought about using a plastic alternative, but in hindsight, it makes so much sense. These 4-gallon bags are perfect for the restroom but also for our kitchen food scrape bin. Once again, they withstood our tests this month and we are super excited to add this product to our household from here on out.
Food Storage Bags
Will these eco-friendly snack bags withstand sharp-edged chips lugged in my son’s lunch box? As mentioned previously, I swapped in the HoldOn bags for three weeks to see how they would withstand the criticism of everyone in the house. We have seriously limited our consumption of food storage bags in the past. Trying to opt for reusable containers when possible. That being said, we typically have a stash of ziplock on hand for use when our containers are MIA (or left at school for weeks on end). So while this seemed like it would be an easy switch, I was a tad worried about testing the gallon bags on raw meat to see if they would leak.
The snack bags are much thicker than I expected and they held up well the times that we used them in my son’s lunchbox. And he was ecstatic that he could close the snack bags on his own! As for the gallon bags, I really put those to the test right out the gate. My first use was for raw shrimp that I needed to freeze and I was SURE that the tails would poke through the material right away. I believed it so much, that I put a container under the bag to catch the leaks that I just knew were coming. However, I was pleasantly surprised when the bag held up to the test both in the freezing stage AND when thawing the shrimp for use a few weeks later. Bravo HoldOn!
Cost Comparison
Obviously, I’m not blind to the fact that replacing my household’s plastic bags with alternative compostable bags will come at a higher price than I’m used to paying. I did the cost comparison for my household to make sure it makes sense for us. During a typical year, we go through approximately 80 13-gallon trash bags, for which we pay 11 cents each ($22.49/200). Bathroom bags are free, but steadily going away due to the plastic bag ban, however, I priced them at 3 cents each ($14.99/500) and I would guess that we use about 100/per year. Then we use about 25 1-Gallon zip locks which are 13 cents each ($18.99/152). And lastly maybe 25 sandwich bags are used per year and cost us about 4 cents each ($3.93/100). So our yearly budget for plastic bags is on average $17.65.
While writing this review, the prices aren’t listed on HoldOn just yet, so I reached out to their team to see what the pricing will look like when they are released. Below is the breakdown that I received:
- Tall Kitchen Trash – One-Time: $25.75 or Subscription: $21.99
- Small Space Trash – One-Time: $13.00 or Subscription: $10.99
- Gallon Zip Seal – One-Time: $10.60 or Subscription: $8.99
- Sandwich Zip Seal – One-Time: $15.25 or Subscription: $12.99
- Trash Essential Set: $34.99 – Includes 1 pack of Tall Kitchen and 1 pack of Small Space
- Stash & Storage Set: $22.99 – Includes 1 pack Gallon Zip Seal and 1 pack Sandwich Zip Seal
- Household Staples Set: $49.99 – Includes 1 pack of Tall Kitchen, 1 pack of Small Space, 1 pack Gallon Zip Seal and 1 pack Sandwich Zip Seal
For my family that would look like ordering the Household Staples Set for $49.99 and subscribing to the tall kitchen and small space trash every 6 months for a total of $32.98. Bringing our total cost for HoldOn’s bags to $82.97/year which is $65.32 more than we are paying now.
Overall Opinion
Now I know what you are thinking, “that is a huge price difference!”. But when I think about it over a year, that is only an extra $5.44 per month. And if I can be part of the change for less than a coffee, I’m ok with that. Plus I think about the chemicals that are in the snack bags that I send with my son or I have my meat sitting in the freezer. And I start to realize the price of not switching could be potentially a lot more down the road. This is an area in my budget that I feel good about making a bit of a splurge on. After switching the HoldOn bags into our daily lives for the past three weeks, we are all sold on keeping them around in the future and can’t wait to be a part of the solution!
Make the switch to HoldOn today!
Use code THEREVIEWGIRLS and receive a free order of sandwich bags when you buy the household staples kit ($15 value)
These products were sent to us free of charge for review purposes. We were also compensated for this post. View our Disclosure to learn more about our process.