apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Chill.

I admit to doing it. My kitchen is basically the hallway to the bathroom. There is no room for a garbage can so I use the bag over the knob. At least I throw it out each night.

Alexis... good for you. the tight space this IS difficult. Getting it out each night is key.

While I've been know to have them myself, I must confess to being afraid the bag is going to catch on something if I'm trying to get out fast in case fire.

For me it is temporary. It stays until the next time I go out of the apartment -- which could be in a few minutes or the next day, depending.

As for regular trash, I have two mini bins attached to the inside of the doors to the cabinet beneath the kitchen sink. Collects about a day's worth of stuff and is invisible to boot.

Guilty as charged.

I lived for five years without a kitchen garbage can. Now I've got one, but it's so small it needs to be emptied at least once a night anyway. So, I just use a plastic grocery bag instead.

I see what's the problem if people use them in their own kitchens. I use them because it's more convenient plus it makes use for all the grocery bags.

But, hey we all have pet peeves.

oh dear - yes, it is ugly, but it really isn't such a big deal to get sooo worked up about, is it? I've never used this bag method anywhere but my bedroom, so that no one sees it but me (which doesn't make it any less ugly). And now I've decided to try and find an appropriate can for my bedroom. Trying to cut down on using a doorknob-bag for garbage is compounded by our efforts to reduce the use of plastic shopping bags in general and use our cloth bags as much as possible. This means we don't have bags around the house we can use for garbage, and we buy the biodegradable bags for the kitchen garbage.

Ack! Never!

Kitchen garbage lives under the sink and does not emerge until it's ready to depart our abode entirely. Kitchen garbage is extremely shy and would be embarrassed to be hanging around in a plastic bag.

We recently had a Talk about how recycling doesn't need to "rest" on the kitchen counter before being removed two steps to its proper place in the garage either. (No local pick-up; recycling must be hauled to a central station.)

me.
There's no room for an entire trashcan.

I have a garbage can but I put smelly garbage (food, etc.) in the plastic bags so I can throw them out immediately.

My garbage can is actually pretty big (a remnant from my last apt with a roommate that made an excessive amount of trash) and doesn't get emptied that often. Anything that is going to cause a smell (i.e., the leftovers from last night's chinese takeout) goes in the plastic bag to get taken out in the morning.

I'm guilty. I actually use a bucket under the sink which acts as a garbage can. Normally, I throw it out at the end of the night but have been known to hang the bag on the exit door because I don't feel like running into a neighbor, wearing only boxer shorts.

I use this method when I cook because I don't like produce bits or egg shells or trimmed fat in the actual garbage can - nothing that can get stinky goes in my precious stainless steel step can. But as soon as the meal has ended part of my kitchen clean up includes taking out the little trash bag.

Nothing to get so worked up over, especially if the bag doesn't hang out too long on the knob. I used to have a garbage can and could not STAND seeing it full of garbage for two or three days before it went out. Now, I keep the small plastic grocery bags on the door knob and it goes out every time I leave the house. No funky lingering smells and no unsightly garbage can in my kitchen. I understand what you mean because even I think it is unsightly when the rest of the kitchen around you is gorgeous and clean, but just think; the kitchen does not smell with garbage and it is a way to get rid of the bags quickly.

It's done all over town because it's sensible. It's just like a take-off strip -- the opposite of the landing strip that's been much-discussed on AT.

It's only ugly if it's a Whole Foods bag. Associated, Met Food, C Town, etc. are smashingly gorgeous doorknob bags.

My only concern would be the little drip-hole at the bottom of many such bags.

I really don't do all that much cooking, so there really isn't a whole lot of time for anything to ferment. But since I really don't want trash to stay around long enough to get a stink, I bought a little trash can, which uses these little plastic shopping bags as its liner. This way I needn't go out and by bags; they're the ones that I get just anyway. Also, if there IS something that could smell bad, I don't feel all that wasteful about taking it out before it's full.

But that little trash can lives in a skinny cabinet that starts at the floor anyway. There are VERY brief moments that the little bag ends up on the door-knob. And that's when I KNOW I must take it out, but I'm not dressed yet, to even go out into the hall, but I'm determined not to forget it on my way out the door.

Garbage always goes in the kitchen trash can. Though I admit to using the plastic grocery bag (on a kitchen cabinet knob) for recycling even though it might hang around for days. My pet peeve though is people who set that little plastic bag of trash OUTSIDE their apartment door in the hallway.

To that person: Hey, if you're too lazy to take it to the garbage can outside and don't want it smelling up your apartment, what makes you think everyone else wants to smell it or look at it every time we go out in the hallway.

jimkk, you should call the doorman and report that if you don't want to confront them yourself.

I only use this method in my office because I haven't got a proper paper recycling recepticle yet. Otherwise the garbage goes in a can. 1 in office, bedroom, bathroom and kitchen. Anyone know of any plastic bags that are biodegradable?

HAH, Wende, that very same talk about the pre-bin "resting place" for the recycling has happened a number of times in my house, too.

I am guilty of the bag-over-the-knob, but only for ferret litter and wee-wee pads (I take them out to the trash can daily, don't worry!). I just don't want to mix that kind of business in the the kitchen trash, which only gets taken out a couple of times a week.

Look at it this way - at least you are getting one re-use out of an evil plastic bag, and it is making you aware of how much waste you are generating and putting into the landfill.

I had a architecture professor whose family "didn't have trash" - we'd go over to her amazing house (that she and her students had designed and built and been adding onto and chainging for 30 years) in Batesville Virginia and eat pizza from paper plates we'd brought and ask where the trash bin was and they'd say "oh, we don't have trash." I never inquired as to how they managed that and it led to all other kinds of questions in my head, but it was interesting. They were extremely eco-conscious.

Becky

small trash bin with grocery bag neatly tucked around edges, gets thrown out every day, if not twice a day (garbage chute a few feet away). As far as i'm concerned, i'm re-using the plastic bags. If i don't get plastic bags, i'll have to BUY plastic bags. What's the point in that?

never hang them on a door knob, unless it's on it's way out and i forgot something inside.

MrGreen, no doorman or super. Don't assume I'm some well-off yuppie.

it's not NY, it's Italy in fact, but my mom just *hate* garbage bin/can of every shapes and material. When my father bought one, he had to return the the thing because my mom couldn't even stand its sight. So it's plastic bag on the knob (of the kitchen balcon) for my parents plus the milk cartoon on the sink (since they started collecting organic vaste separately in my hometown) [paper, plastic, glass and cans have all their separated bags but at least those are hidden and clean].

I admit to doing it too. It happens quite often as I start cooking and I have a pile of veggies and salads to clean. The trash pile fills up very fast, so make a large bag that gets deposited outside immediately upon finishing the task at hand. Especially now in summer when things rot so fast. I do "the knob thing" too, usually as I am combining the kitchen and bathroom trash, to dispose on my way out to work. So I am sure there are a lot of people who do this thing :-) it is okay as long as one does not leave it hanging around for days... :-)
I spotted one tenant of mine (whom I love (as a tenant of course):-) having a bag, hung on a hook in the kitchen wall, like a sort of decoration:-) Immediately sent my husband to install hooks inside the kitchen sink cabinet door so she can hang the bag there. It is her choice not to invest on a real trash bin, but at least the trash should not hang around. :-) So understand you Max completely on this one.

Garbage is such a problem in a small apartment. Anything left in the kitchen for any amount of time will smell up the entire place. The only solution is to take out the garbage more often. I take out the garbage every night. And, yes, I am so embarassed to admit that I use these grocery bags. Saves me money, because I don't have to buy garbage bigs (believe me, my budget is that tight) and forces me to take the garbage out every day. I don't really have it on the knob, though, it rests in an open can reminding me to get rid of it.

I am trying to live a green life, but...this is one area where I am not doing so well and I think of it everyday.

Maxwell - sorry to hyjack this post - but - here in Cleveland we have a far more ubitquitous problem and that is dog poop. It is everywhere. Everywhere.

I'd like to ask New Yorkers if they pick up their dog poop.

I am living in the poorest city in America according to the census. We have one area of the city that is thriving (only one) with yuppies and hipsters and beautiful big expensive apartments. One smart person put a lovely grocery store in this area. This is said occupants only amenity except for restaurants and bars. There are no art galleries, but the area has so much potential ...except that there is dog poop everywhere. I am absolutely astounded. I can't even walk to my office without having to dodge the poop. And since we live by the lake, the wind is very strong. Meaning the wind blows this wonderful smell everywhere.

First - do New Yorkers have dogs in small apartments? And - do New Yorkers pick up their poop? And - would you please tell the people in Cleveland to have pride in their city and pick up the poop? I think picking up poop is a green way to use these ubiquitous bags.

Thanks for listening.

Most New Yorkers pick up their poop, but there are a few who do not, and you have to be on the lookout for it.

jmkk, then there must be a landlord. If you live in NY, fire codes prohibit leaving things in the hallway.

TRASH CANS ARE TOO BIG FOR MANHATTAN APARTMENTS!!!!

Here is the solution: the Simple under the counter pull out bin. It has been life changing for me, so convenient and out of the way, and accepts simple tall kitchen bags.

Oh, I just remembered this site, peggy, you'll like it:

http://www.newyorkshitty.com/

Peggy, your problem is real everywhere. A lot of people behave like your neighbours. In my neighbourhood what I see are pretty similar. Maybe not as bad, but you don't need much to ruin your day, just step on one. I find rainy days are the worse. In any event, it is mostly (I think) due to the selfish culture breeded into the people. If children where educated since 1st grade thru civic classes, how to do behave in public, how to read a magazine in public transportation, how to clean after your pet when walking in the neighbourhood, how to talk in a lowered tone when in an elevator, then this would be a different story. Peggy, I empathize with you, but I am afraid there is not much one can do to fix these problems.

sorry, meant simple human, here is the link:

http://www.simplehuman.com/products/trash-cans/in--cabinet-cans/pull-out-can.html

We do it too...... embarrasing, but it's because we just don't have room! We have the covered trashcan under the prep space, the paper recycling under the sink, and so we have to use the plastic doorknob bag for plastic and glass recycling.

it's annoying, but we just don't seem to have another solution.

i do this inthe bathroom, for diapers. the diaper genie things were way too big and still stinky, and i don't want to put them in the more open wastebasket. this way i can empty it frequently outside in the trash. when the diaper stage is over, so is the bag.

I think I'm going to start doing the hang a plastic bag on the kitchen drawer handle thing, actually, and dispose of the waste every day. My mother uses one plastic bag a day for kitchen trash and has a small wastebin that fits it.

The reason? I have a large trashcan now, and it takes me three weeks to even fill the whole thing. Sure, I could take out this trash more, but that entails actually buying many trash bags when there's always a standard plastic bag somewhere in the house. And the most important reason is that fruit flies (and other flies) are hard to get rid of once they've found your trash. Even when you take out the trash, they find some place to hang out waiting for the new food scraps. Flies in the kitchen are A LOT uglier than a plastic bag.

I'm moving into a rowhome with no alley access - how do you handle garbage that way? I have a large trashcan out back but what I put in there has to go through the house on garbage day. Any tips for a clean trip and a non-smelly back patio?

We do it sometimes, if we have something particularly stinky that needs to go out right away but the big trash can isn't full enough to take out yet. I agree that it looks bad and is not a habit I would want to get into. We also don't have an actual door to the kitchen, so the bag sits on the counter until we're done with it, then it gets tied up and hung on the inside of the front door so we are sure to remember to take it out when we take the dog out one last time each night.

Hanging garbage on the front door could only happen with regularity in New York, where poor city planning forces Manhattanites to put their garbage on the sidewalk, rather than in the alley where the gods intended it to go.

I kid. Kind of.

I think I know more people that do this than do not. And all for the same reason - to quickly and easily dispose of the stinky food items that you don't want sitting in a garbage can overnight or for a few days.

In my kitchen I have a small vintage garbage can with a lid, and I find that it contains smells so well, I forget food items are in there! The thought of anything rotting in there really grosses me out, so it goes on the door handle and out as soon as possible.

Aren't we lucky to live in small NYC apartments where our front doors are so close to our kitchens??!!

Maxwell, I love your icky personal habits posts (the one about your label-less bathroom and all the earnest comments which followed had me laughing for days!).
In my building the trash has to be left out of the door at 4:00 exactly when the doorman picks it up, otherwise it is trekking to the garbage room. Luckily I work from home so at four on the dot I take the garbage from the two trash cans (one plastics and packaging-Madrid recycling) under the sink and outside the door.

I recycle plastic bags as extra packaging for dirty nappies, before they go in the trash can. it must be awful for the environment but I don't care! Anything to get rid of that smell

How did you get in my apartment?

I live in a tiny Brooklyn one-bedroom with a 60 lb Malinois. I have two bins under my sink - one for rolled up plastic bags, and one lined with a plastic bag for trash. I pick up my doggie's poops religiously and always carry around rolled up spares for other people. I'm one of those, "Hey your dog just made a poopie. Do you need a bag?" if I see someone who just leaves the poop behind. People are jerks, but sometimes, it's just cos they don't have an extra baggie. BTW, it's against the law to leave poop behind in NYC.

This seems very unpleasant. It looks cheap and must smell worse. No room for a garbage bin? Really? And I'm surprised that so many can fill up a grocery bag with garbage everyday. What's getting thrown out?

About reusing those plastic bags... I wonder if there's more oil involved in 5 or 6 reused grocery bags or one medium size trash bag. But if you do get plastic grocery bags, kudos for reusing them I guess.

And you could put those smelly compost-ables in a small container in the freezer then bring it to a farmers' market on the weekend. Many have compost donation bins.

This is what you need.

http://www.containerstore.com/browse/Product.jhtml?CATID=70622&PRODID=64996

When I was shopping for a new trashcan for my apartment, I pondered the $100 fancy garbage cans. Then I realized that I really didn't want to give up that much space (or money) for a garbage can, not to mention the cost of buying garbage bags.

This little $5 trashcan from the Container Store, however, is specially designed for grocery store bags and has little handle/lips that hold onto the loops of the bag. It also fits nicely under a kitchen sink cabinet. I highly recommend it.

We use a trash can near the back door. Following removal, the next thing the trash bag is allowed to touch is the garbage can in the garage.

About 50% of those plastic grocery bags have holes it them. I don't expect them to contain a liquid. One of the nastiest things on the planet is garbage juice.

I do this kind of trash disposal in my flat, but I actually bought this from domestic to make it seem at least somewhat humorous.

Vynil plastic bags

I agree with Jackie. My sentiments exactly when I purchased my bin that fits the regular plastic shopping bags. Mine is different, but it does fit the shopping bags. To hold all the plastic bags together, I bought a plastic bag container from Ikea for about $1 I think. All goes under the kitchen sink counter.

Guilty, but with good reason:

If I'm cooking meat and do not want to smell the tray after a night in the garbage can, I will use the plastic bag to place tray inside and then go to my door and take 6 small steps to the incinerator thats to the left of my apartment.

Otherwise, I use the trashcan.

Something about putting trash into a cabinet seems kind of icky to me.

I don't generate enough trash daily to fill a standard garbage can/bag, and I sooo don't want overnight garbage, and don't want to throw out a half full garbage bag that I am paying for.

The plastic bag of this size is, for me, one day's garbage-size that goes to the chute every day.

i had this growing in my place. BUT its a lingering vice from childhood when my mom did it.
i stopped the day my dog decided to throw a party with its content and forget to invite me. so after that. they go under the sink in my cute little ikea garbage can attached to my under the sink door....and away from mr. choppers grr.

and as far as it being "icky" under the sink. its not. i make sure the trash goes out every other day.

I don't see the big deal here... everyone's got their own habits. I have a small trash can with a plastic bag inside (the trash can has a lid because it's not under the counter... that stinks too much).

We try to produce as little garbage as possible but no matter what, we always toss it when its full... then clean the trash can and start over.

As long as the garbage stays out of sight and more importantly, you can't smell it... then who cares how you deal with it.

Mr. Green - thanks for the site! It cracked me up! I think I'll be submitting some pics of poop to her. Ah goofing off at work is so wonderful!

I use a paper bag on the floor. Is that so wrong? I'm planning on getting an enamel bin from IKEA, eventually...

That happens often with my recycling, but not with trash. I'm very lazy about taking out the recycling..I have 2 plastic bags full hanging on the door to my hvac in my kitchen right now.

Mi casa:

Paper grocery bag in the kitchen sink for each day's rubbish, out of reach of my seven old street-mutts. Out to the trash can every night (the bag, not the mutts.)

Mutts have continual access to my small back yard, which I bus several times a day. Tried an in-ground Doggie Dooley but there's not one with the capacity needed for such a gaggle of hounds. So, every few hours I tour the yard with a baggie on my hand and pick up poo. It generally goes into a large dogfood bag (forming a sumbolic circle of life), folded over many times and out to the curb on trash days.

Trash Day is big at my house.

"symbolic"

gah.

I have only just started doing this in my current kitchen, which is the first to have knobs that are easy to hang bags from. Like the other posters, I find this a good compromise for a single person who doesn't fill up the regular trashcan quickly enough, leading to either malodorous conditions or throwing out half-empty bags.

However, there has to be some limits. My former college roommate is a bit of an Oscar Madison type, and when I visited one of her apartments several years ago I was horrified to see bags hanging from several doorknobs and kitchen cabinet knobs. I asked her why she didn't just use a trash can, and her answer was that SHE DIDN'T HAVE ONE! The next time I came over I got her a mini-welcome kit with a trashcan filled with numerous other household items I felt she should have, like a silverware tray. (Who just throws their forks, spoons, etc. loose in a drawer?)

Needless to say I am a control freak ;-). But one that can overlook a single bag dangling on a knob for less than 24 hours at a time.

No fancy trashcans for me. I like to keep it out of sight, so I use one of these hooks to hang a plastic bag inside the cabinet under my sink:
Over-Cabinet Hook

my parents do that. it's pretty bad if you have wet stuff b/c it gets all over the floor. ick!

however, now & then i forget my shopping bag & end up w/ a few plastic grocery bags. so, i keep them under the sink & then, when i need to do a quick clean up, i hang one on a knob in each room. i run around & throw out the little bits of mess & then gather it all together. they go away when i'm not cleaning.

hanging a bag over a knob is not clean. if you feel you don't make enough trash to fill a tall kitchen bag, try a small one under the sink & out of sight. it's gross.

guys, if your trash is not in a can, trash gue leaks onto your floor. who wants more work mopping that up. & besides why do a cure if you're ok w/ having visual trash? doens't that sort of cancel out the other???

My home is not that clean or well decorated, but garbage can on the doorknob is something I wouldn't tolerate (well since I lived in a dorm). I managed to fit a big step can in my kitchen and have a big paper bag for recyclables under my kitchen sink. Luckily, the trash chute is just outside my door, and we have indoor recycling facilities so emptying them is not that hard. Still, we do often end up with old newspapers and empty plastic bottles on our kitchen counters.

I think Martha Stewart needs to be consulted on this very important issue.

re-using plastic shopping bags for trash seems like a good thing to me (must be why i do it!), though i have a small step-can for this purpose. hanging it on the doorknob is not the most attractive thing, but hardly cause for a meltdown. :)

just one point though: in nyc junk mail is recyclable - even the envelopes with the little plastic window. according to the dept. of sanitation, we could be recycling MUCH more paper here, and apparently the city actually makes money off it (incentive for more and better recycling programs).

anne, that little plastic window is cellophane, which is made of trees, which is why it's recyclable.

Wow, who would have thought rubbish was such a hot topic. I just want to add how much I love my very cheap roll-top bin from addis. Here in the UK brabantia seem to have (a very expensive) strangle-hold on the dustbin market, but I think roll tops are much better as there is no fiddly pedal action or flip top flicking back and catching your fingers.

http://www.addis.co.uk/product_detail.php?product_id=43

The top rolls back and stays there so that when it's open it's totally open and easy to throw stuff into as you're cooking, and when it's closed it's totally closed keeping the rubbish out of sight. And the 24L version is the perfect size for lining with a plastic carrier bag, giving you the best of both worlds.

I'm surprised so many people do this, and it makes me feel a little anal about how I handle my trash. Other than a small bin in our bedroom for the occasional clothing tag or laundry sheet, I have a small one in the bathroom that gets emptied daily into our only other, medium-size kitchen bin. Everything goes in there. If it's smelly or messy, it goes into a plastic sack (kept under the sink) and gets tied off before it goes in. The main bag then gets taken out to the curbside bin every other day or so. The trash is always covered. I cannot imagine being able to see it out all the time, even if it felt temporary. The bin also gets wiped down with a bleach water solution between bags.

I do this in the kitchen when I cook, and then take the bag out as soon as I am done. We don't fill the kitchen trash bin up quickly enough to prevent things like veggie scraps and meat trimmings from starting to smell before the bag is full enough to dispose of. When I lived alone and barely filled the trash bin once a week, I threw raw meat trimmings and a lot of produce scraps in there, forgot that I had done so, and was rudely reminded by the smell. That was the worst taking out the trash experience I've ever had thanks to a cheap garbage bag that developed a hole, so now I just take that kind of stuff out right away.

I'm guilty on this one, but it's for recyclable items. Worse part is, I only empty it out when it's reaaaally full since all recycled items must be disposed of in the basement.

It works good if you have stuff that will get stinky and you take it out that night or immediately the next morning. Saves your big garbage bag from having to go too soon.

I do it, but on the inside of a hall closet.

Also, I only house recycleables in this manner, mostly empty water bottles and the like.

I'm doing something in between, to be honest. I've got a small bin, with no cap, and use the plastic bag inside the bin, which stays under my kitchen counter. That way, the moment the plastic bag is full or smelly (say I peeled an onion), I tie it fast, throw it away, and replace it with a new one. Note that there's no way to recycle in Romania yet, so finding use for the carrier bags that end up at home is better than buying special bin bags. Plus, with a small bin, you do dispose of the garbage faster.

I started "bagging the knob" about 8 years ago when my son was in diapers much to my sisters horror and dismay. She a native NYer who transplanted to Philly to a beautiful house hated it so much she would through the bags through my second floor window and try to get it in the garbage. To her the strown bags "next" to the cans outside were more aesthetially pleasing.

ha. bagging the knob.

yikes. you're stretching for material here.

We are lucky enough to have a little broom closet, and use a metal frame from the Container STore that's just the right size to hold a grocery store bag as a trash bag. But, sometimes I just sling a bag on the knob of the broom closet. Just a little easier to get to. The bags go out quickly, though.

Someone clearly needs to invent a doorknob trash caddy.

I live alone and do not make a lot of garbage. It would take days and days to fill up a bin. Plus I have no room in my studio, plus I am too afraid of attracting vermin and the like.

This may sound weird but to avoid the smell of trash, I stick my little bag in the freezer overnight, "bag the knob" in the morning and take it out with me on my way to work.

I just revisited this thread - wow, so many remarks.
I held back previously, mostly because I don't live in a miniscule NYC space. But I do find garbage bags on doorknobs truly gross. A friend of mine not in NYC, ie, plenty of space, used to do this and I thought it was disgusting.

I used to do a variation of this.

In Omaha, I had this great old apartment that had a front door in the hallway and a backdoor out the kitchen to the fire escape.

I put my large covered kitchen trash can on the fire escape (it was spacious enough, not a fire hazard) and kept a more attractive, handled paper shopping bag on the door knob and stuffed my trash in there when it was cold. During warm weather… stepping out to the fire escape to dump trash was a nice excuse to get outside, and leave the back door open anyway.

It didn’t take long before my neighbor followed suit. Man I loved that apartment!

This may have actually originated in NYC. I'm a transplant from Brooklyn to Allentown, PA. The bag hasn't appeared yet in our kitchen - but there's one on our bedroom door (we don't have a garbage can in that room). My husband thinks its the strangest thing. He, obviously, never had an apartment in the city.

i find that filling a small bag and taking it out in the morning on my way out to work is the best way to control bugs. i had a trash under my sink and found that it attracted undesirables....while my 20lb. cat enjoyed the predatorial game, i did not share his amusement.

someday when i have a house i will introduce a proper trash bin but for now, in my small brooklyn one bedroom this is the best solution.

No, I don't do this. I don't hang anything on door knobs. (coming from superstitious parents -- this is a sign of death!) I have a garbage disposal for any food waste that's organic, I have a large oval can that has two half cans inside, one for recycled glass and plastic, (which are rinsed) the other side has a liner inside for regular trash. Each side has a lid. I do use these bags for cat box waste which gets tied up and put into the trash can side with the liner. I also purchase trash can liners with odor-guard protection. Trash gets picked up twice a week, Wed and Sat. and it seems I usually have something to go out. I don't live in an apartment and if I take it out it has to sit on the sidewalk until trash day which means that some squirrel, stray cat or dog will rip into it until it is picked up. I can't have that!

Yep, I confess: I did this for years in the kitchen. Had the bag hanging on a little hook on a rolling kitchen cart. One day a friend strongly suggested that putting the garbage in a can would be a lot more pleasant, with the tone of voice implicating that I was turning into one of those NYC weirdos with stuff hanging off of stuff all over the apartment.

So, I got a little can, and yes, it's a bit more sightly and civilized. But also high irony, because my kitchen is totally unrenovated, and the least appealing room in my apartment! That can might be the cutest thing in there right now.

HOWEVER, I'll say this for the bag on the hook on the cart: never a roach problem, never ever. Whereas a tall kitchen garbage can I bought recently became infested with roaches. I ended up curbing it last night for garbage pickup today, with a warning note to any scavengers. I really dislike bringing insect poisons into my home, and that was what it seemingly was going to take to root out the last of the eggs hidden in that thing.

(I bought it used off Craigslist. Possibly the roach eggs came with it. For now, back to that little can, which has a bottom that's sealed!)

I have a very small kitchen it is part of my living room.
I would never hang trash on the knob, mainly for aesthetic reasons. I find the best solution to my trash is to use a very small flip up metal trash can under my sink. It holds a grocery bag and about 2 days worth of trash. My biggest problem is where to put my recyclables. Right now they are in a bag by the front door. Any good solutions?

Having visible garbage is the single worst thing you can do to a home from a Feng Shui perspective.

And those of you more concerned about the number of highly compressible bags you're putting in landfills rather than the contents of the bags: you don't get it.

funniest thing I have read in a long time. I never thought of it as a phenomenon...I do it too, 'cept mine is a paper bag.

Perhaps our mayor can introduce a plastic bag on door ban?

Just don't hang one of the shift lever in your car.

I have noticed that if I am out early in the morning, from time to time certain neighbors in my building will have a full garbage bag hanging from the nob on the OUTSIDE of their door! They didn't want to live with the stink inside for the night so they left it outside, with out regard for aesthetic appeal!

A year ago I went through a (weird and inexplicable) phase re: plastic shopping bags. The messy way they looked when "stored" for any kind of further use finally got to me. So I hit on a simple method for correcting the problem. I hold the bag by a bottom corner, snap in through the air a couple of times to expell most of the air, and then start twisting it around itself while twisting it around a few fingers of the other hand; then I tuck the ends of the handles through the middle (where my fingers were). It comes out looking like a small danish pastry. Then it goes into another bag which hangs on a hook in the broom closet. Hundreds can easily be stored this way in one bag (though I've never reached the max).

To illiminate ooze if I use one of the bags for garbage, I shake the bag open, then squeeze the top together tight, and then squeeze the bag: if it deflates, there's a hole somewhere, and the bag doesn't get used.

When I'm preparing a meal, I hang a plastic bag over the back of one of my genuine Stickley chairs (tag sale triumph! $5 each for 3), which have post tops on the backs that make this simple. Food preparation detritus goes into it: after the meal (in another room), the plates get scraped into the bag, the bag gets tied up, and the whole thing goes into the bag in the trash can. No mess, no smellies.

I'm apalled that I've written so much about plastic bags. Maybe we should next discuss whether we brush our teeth back and forth or up and down, or how we eat corn on the cob; move the ear back and forth, or rotate it. . . .