For all your bin liner needs

Bin Liners

Buy from a huge range of bin liners, bin bags and black sacks for all your waste disposal needs.

Bin liners are...

  • Bags used to line bins, but more specifically...
  • Polythene bags used to line the inside of dustbin
  • Also known as bin bags, waste sacks or rubbish bags
  • Used to catch rubbish when it is placed into a dustbin
  • Great at keeping the interior walls of the bin clean, stain-free and smell-free
  • Excellent at reducing odour levels when collecting and disposing of everyday rubbish
  • Handy to use, providing quick and easy disposal of rubbish collected within the bin
  • Easily sealed and disposed of when full - just remove the full bin liner from the bin, lift at the edges, grab a handful of polythene from either side and then tie in a knot above the middle of the bag. You can then transport the bin liner to your exterior dustbin or wheelie bin
  • Available in a range of shapes to suit all types of bin, including pedal bins, swing bins, square bins, round bins, flip-top bins, brabantia bins or traditional lift-lid dustbins.
  • Available in a range of sizes to suit any bin, big or small
  • Available in traditional polythene or a range of biodegradable alternatives - perfect for gathering food waste, kitchen waste, composting materials or garden waste

The bin liner - a brief history

The bin liner is such a part of modern day life that you could be forgiven for thinking it was always there, but of course it wasn't!

In Canada in 1950 an inventor by the name of Harry Wasylyk from Winnipeg, Manitoba, alongside his colleague Larry Hansen - another Canadian, from Lindsay, Ontario - invented the first polyethylene bin liner, which was the colour green.

Of course, being a North American creation, the world's very first bin liner wasn't called a bin liner, or even a rubbish bag, but a garbage bag (that's rubbish, North America!).

Whilst obviously very clever chaps, Messrs Wasylyk and Hansen didn't quite spot the future direction for the humble bin liner and the fact that it would end up in millions of homes around the world, as the first bin liners were designed for commercial use rather than use at home.

Having sold the first bags to the Winnipeg General Hospital, Wasylyk and Hansen sold their invention to the Union Carbide Company, Lindsay, where they worked and the company saw their potential for future use. Union Carbide began manufacturing the first green garbage bags for home use that decade and the very first bin liners (or garbage bags) for home use went on sale in the late 1960s under the name Glad Garbage.

So if you like bin bags then you should be glad for Glad Garbage, even if you aren't glad that the name includes the term garbage. It's probably a better, or less rubbish, brand name than Glad Rubbish anyway, even if it sounds a bit rubbish to call rubbish garbage.

Make sense? Well, congratulations to Messrs Wasylyk and Hansen for their clever invention, which is anything but rubbish… or garbage for that matter. Here's to you sirs!

Ten things you might hear about discount plastic bags

Dog Waste Bags

Waste bags need to combine strength, easy handling and a clean user experience, because a flimsy bag is useless the moment it splits in the hand or on the sweep-up. A well-manufactured mitt-style bag gives a better grip, retains the task cleaner, and reduces the chance of missed waste or messy double handling. The proper value comes from controlled film gauge, decent seal quality and a format that can be issued and carried without fuss. That makes compliance easier in parks, estates and shared outdoor spaces, where convenience often determines whether the bag acquires used at all. For waste control to work properly, the bag has to be practical first and clever second.

1. Eleusine plastic packing bags

Plastic packing bags work optimal when the grade, gauge and closure match the job, not when a one-size-fits-all option is pulled from stock. A lightweight bag may be fine for clean, low-risk products, nevertheless it can split below sharp corners, poor stacking or rough handling at the packing bench. Thicker film gives more resistance, yet it also changes occupy speed, seal quality and the space taken up in storage. Good selection retains secondary packing tidy, protects products amid dispatch and reduces returns caused by tearing, scuffing or inconsistent bag performance.

Grey Mailing Bags Strong Poly Postal Postage Post Mail Self Seal All Sizes Cheap Grey Mailing - £151.99

Grey mailing bags are chosen when a consignment requirements a low-cost outer layer that still survives rough handling in the mail and in the depot. Their strength relies on the grade of polythene suppliers, the gauge of the film, and how well the seal grasps once parcels are stacked, slid, and dropped into cages. A bag that sees simple can still fail if the film is also thin or the seal line is weak, particularly on sharp-edged contents. The grey colour also assists with privacy, which matters for shopping returns and normal dispatch work. A sensible specification reduces splits, retains packing lines moving, and cuts the chance of avoidable damage.

Carrier bags in the high-tensile vest format sit at an unglamorous nevertheless technically revealing point in the packaging chain, where polymer selection, handle geometry and checkout velocity all meet. The familiar vest profile is not merely a convenience shape; its gusseting and load-bearing loop handles enable fast opening at the select-face or counter, while distributing stress through the crown of the bag rather than concentrating it at a punched aperture. In practice, performance is governed by blend discipline: high-density polythene suppliers brings stiffness and tensile strength at relatively low gauge, while controlled melt-flow consistency determines whether the film can be blown thin without introducing weak spots, chatter labels or erratic tear propagation. Micron-specific gauging matters because all unnecessary fraction of film adds tare weight across a consignment, yet below-gauging creates secondary bagging, product damage and unstable waste streams. For warehouse operatours, the format also has a volumetric argument; nested vest bags occupy small cube, present cleanly in bundles, and assist fast manual dispensing without the pallet instability often seen with bulkier shopping sacks. The circular economy dimension is more complicated than the slogans recommend. A mono-material polythene suppliers carrier bag can sit adequately within established recycling routes, provided heavy pigmentation, incompatible additives and contaminated returns are kept in check; recycled-content variants, meanwhile, rely on feedstock regularity and the processour's ability to maintain film strength despite variable polymer history. The better specifications so read less like a list of products entry and more like a production compromisesurface feel, gauge tolerance, weld integrity, opening behaviour and stop-of-life handling all balanced against the unforgiving arithmetic of stock movement.

6 Mil Poly Bags

A 6 mil poly bag in a 2 x 3 flat reclosable format is a small pack that requirements surprisingly careful specification. The heavier gauge gives the bag more body than a thin sleeve, so it resists splitting at the seal line and copes better with repeated opening and closing. That matters when small parts, samples, or loose accessories are being handled on a production floor or slotted into secondary packing. The flat shape also retains the footprint tidy in storage and on select faces, while the reclosable feature assists reduce spoilage, pollution, and the need for additional outer packaging. For small items, that balance of strength and convenience normally pays off in cleaner handling.

A ban on polythene suppliers shopping bags only works when all department follows the same handling rules. If one counter still slips bags into circulation, the site fast ends up with mixed habits, poor control and avoidable waste. Replacing polythene suppliers with approved alternatives also requirements transparent stock rotation, because old bags left in stores or cupboards tend to reappear when staff are busy. The practical fix is simple enough: remove the banned material from daily issue points, retain suppliers informed, and make sure any remaining stock is collected and quarantined. That retains the premises aligned and stops a weak link from undoing the policy.

Are plastic bags getting a inferior rap?

Plastic bags are often judged badly, yet the proper issue is how they are used, collected, and explained to shoppers and staff. A lightweight carrier or liner can reduce material use, grasp products cleanly, and work well in secondary packing if the gauge is matched to the job and the film tension is controlled. Problems normally beginning when flimsy bags are chosen for heavy items, when mixed materials confuse recycling, or when loose bags clog a warehouse and create handling damage. Clear guidance on segregation, stock rotation, and proper specification does more superb than blanket blame. When the proper bag is paired with the proper system, the waste problem becomes far easier to manage.

12 x 15 Die-Cut Economy Plastic Bags, 12 x 15

Economy polythene suppliers bags with a die-cut grip are less about presentation than about managing the normal punishments of traderepeated handling at the select face, overstuffed secondary bagging, and the awkward load paths that develop around the handle aperture once a consignment is in motion. At roughly the lighter stop of utility gauge, performance hinges on film discipline rather than sheer bulk: consistent micron-specific gauging, stable melt-flow consistency amid extrusion, and enough chain integrity in the high-density polymer structure to resist edge split when stock is carried one-handed. The gloss stop is not merely cosmetic either; it tends to come from a tighter, cleaner film surface, which can assist with print definition and visual uniformity across a case dash, though it also necessitates a few view around coefficient of friction if pallet stability matters in outer packing. On the warehouse floor, the appeal of an economy format is normally arithmeticlower tare weight, better volumetric efficiency, and more units per case without surrendering basic handling strength. The more informed purchasing teams also see beyond first cost: mono-material polythene suppliers remains relatively straightforward in recycling streams where clean segregation is maintained, and the amortised energy per use can compare favourably with heavier-format alternatives when the bag is specified closely to the task rather than habitually oversised.

Discount Plastic Bags And Packaging

Discount plastic bags tend to be bought for price, nevertheless the proper trade question is whether the gauge, seal and bag format match the job. A thin carrier may see cost-effective at products-in, yet poor film strength can lead to split handles, punctures and rejected packs before stock even reaches the shop floor. Lighter bags can also cause handling frustration because they cling, stretch or tear when loaded also fast. For warehousing and dispatch teams, a consistent specification matters above a low headline cost, since less fails mean less rework and less waste. The sensible selection is the one that grasps together through packing, transport and client use.

What is often presented as a simple switch from normal carrier formats to eco-friendly bags is, on the factory floor, a far more exacting materials brief. A bag intended to displace multi-use polythene suppliers has to withstand repeated handling at the select face, retain seam integrity below awkward loading, and avoid the creep and gusset distortion that so often undermines pallet stability in transit. That pushes converters towards tighter micron-specific gauging, more disciplined fibre orientation in paper grades, or woven buildings with predictable tensile behaviournone of which can be treated as an afterthought if the consignment is expected to transport efficiently through secondary bagging, stacking and dispatch. The wider attraction lies not merely in optics nevertheless in system performance: lower tare weight where feasible improves volumetric efficiency, mono-material formats simplify recyclability, and feedstock derived from renewable or recovered streams reduces the embodied energy burden when assessed across realistic use cycles. Yet the proper industrial friction sits in manufacturing consistency; unless melt-flow consistency, surface stop and handle attachment are controlled batch to batch, stock losses rise, line speeds drop, and the supposed environmental earn is diluted by waste, rejects and premature replacement.

Bin liner types - one size does not fit all

What does the term 'bin liner' mean to you? What sort of bin springs to mind and, more importantly, what sort of bin liner or bin bag do you think of fitting inside that bin?

Those very questions will prompt a wide range of answers, depending on who you speak to, reflecting the huge variety of bin liners available to fit the broad and varied array of bins or rubbish receptacles out there.

Bin liners range from very small bags that fit mini pedal bins - the sort commonly found in bathrooms - or kitchen caddies made from biodegradable material that are used to collect food waste disposal, right up to industrial sized bags that fit in wheelie bins or large compactor bins used predominantly outside business premises.

In between, you'll find a broad range of bin bags and liners that cater for bins of all shapes and sizes, including:

  • Traditional dustbins
  • Pedal bins
  • Swing bins
  • Square bins
  • Flip-top bins
  • Push-top bins (e.g. Brabantia)
  • Wheelie bins
  • Food bins / Kitchen caddy
  • Compost bins
  • Compactor bin
  • Recycling bins
  • Public litter bins

Bin liners - a black and white issue

The vast majority of bin liners or bin bags - depending on which term you prefer to use - are made from either black or white polythene, although there is a huge range of colours available to meet various waste disposal needs (more details below).

When considering black or white polythene, a good rule of thumb for bin bags is that thin means white and thick means black. Of course this is not always true - the gauge of polythene used for both white and black polythene bin bags will vary - but more often that not, thicker bags are made of black polythene.

Bin liners made from white polythene include a range of bags to fit small bins for domestic use, such as pedal bins, swing bins or square bins. These bags are commonly made from thin, lightweight white polythene as they are designed to deal with light duty use - e.g. tissues, toilet rolls innards, pencil sharpenings etc.

The old-fashioned classic black bin bag is that used for your everyday rubbish, whether in your kitchen bin, an outside dustbin or just used loose to collect rubbish from a wide area, e.g. clearing up after a party.

The standard dimensions of a regular black bin bag are between approx. 85cm and 100cm long - approx. 34” to 39” - and between 64cm and 74 cm wide - approx. 25” to 29”.

More so than white bin liners, black bin bags come in a huge range of thicknesses, from the cheap and cheerful ultra-light price beater sacks at 80 gauge thick, to the ultra thick heavy duty bags, which are up to 350 or 400 gauge thick.

So you could be forgiven for thinking your choice of bin liner is a black and white issue, although this is not the case. Bin liners are available in a huge variety of colours. The coloured varieties tend to be slightly more expensive than the standard black variety, but they can be helpful in many other ways. Here is one of them...

Where to buy bin liners

Bin liner manufacturers and suppliers include:

Rubbish Bags
Discount Rubbish Bags lives up to its name, providing customers with a wide range of rubbish bags, waste sacks and bin liners at discount prices. Contains loads of information, giving you the very best opportunity to buy the right rubbish bag at discount prices.
www.discountrubbishbags.co.uk

Bin Liners
A very helpful website for any customer looking to purchase bin liners for any type of waste disposal. Featuring information on different types of polythene bin liner and eco-friendly alternatives, this website has your bin liner needs covered.
www.binliners.org

Bin Bags
Bin Bags is the website for all your bin bag needs. Whether you are shopping for traditional black waste sacks, bin liners or eco-friendly alternatives, this website will help you find the right bin bag for you.
www.bin-bags.co.uk

Black Bin Liners
Whatever type of bin bag or waste sack you are looking for, Discount Bin Liners is sure to help you make the right decision. From pedal bin liners to clinical waste disposal sacks and swing bin liners to wheelie bin bags, this site will help you get the right bin liners at great discount prices.
www.discountbinliners.co.uk

Wheelie Bin Liners
Discount Wheelie Bin Liners is a useful resource on bin liners, bin bags, waste sacks and eco-friendly bin liners. With bin liner news and a list of bin liner manufacturers, this is a bin liner website you don't want to miss.
www.discountwheeliebinliners.co.uk

Research & Resources

For more information on bin liners and bin bags, from manufacturing to methods of recycling, plus a list of polythene and biodegradable bags available, please visit:

PackagingKnowledge: The go-to knowledge site for the UK's polythene packaging industry, containing a huge wealth of information and useful articles on bin liners.

PlasticBags.uk.com: The UK's number one polythene packaging directory. List your products for free or browse through a fantastic selection of bin liners websites.

Goldstork: Search through specially selected information on bin liners in this free 'pick-of-the-web' directory.

Organise your recycling with coloured bin liners

If you want to separate your rubbish or waste to make it easier to dispose of, then coloured bin liners or bin bags could be just what you are looking for.

Today you can buy bin bags in a range of different colours to cater for your waste disposal needs, whatever they are.

If you just want to separate your rubbish into recyclables and non-recyclables, then why not choose black bin bags for your general waste and then green bin bags for your recyclable waste. You're doing your bit for the environment, so why not choose a green bin bag for your green waste?

The colour of bag you need may be determined by your local council or the company that collects your rubbish. Many people have wheelie bins of a certain colour that need to be filled with a particular type of waste but, in some instances, wheelie bins aren't a practical solution so coloured bin bags solve that problem.

Always check with your local council or the relevant organisation managing your waste disposal, but the following waste is often associated with the following colour of bin bag or wheelie bin:

  • General (non-recyclable) rubbish - black
  • Garden waste - green or brown
  • Food waste - green or brown
  • General recycling - green
  • Plastic recyclables (bottles, trays etc.) - blue
  • Aluminium (cans or tins) - grey or silver
  • Hazardous waste (e.g. asbestos) - red
  • Clinical waste (as used in hospitals) - yellow

Clear bin liners

There is one other 'colour' bin bag not referred to in the list of coloured bin liners. That is partly because it was worthy of a mention all on its own and partly because it doesn't really have a colour - it's see through!

Clear bin liners, otherwise known as see-through bin liners or transparent bin liners, are very useful for managing your waste disposal. They allow you to keep an eye on the rubbish being disposed of to ensure that no foreign materials other than those allowed are dumped in the bag.

Imagine an office where there is loads of paper recycling, but it has to be paper only being thrown away in the bag because it is all tipped straight into a giant shredder. Well what if someone accidentally threw their empty drinks can into the paper bin after finishing their drink?

If you were using traditional black bin liners you might never see that can, which could cause irreparable damage to a very expensive printer. But if you're using clear bin liners then, when you take the bin liner from out of the bin, it's very easy to take a quick look at the contents of the bin. Give it a quick shake about to check there's nothing trapped in the middle that shouldn't be there, and then you're done.

Clear bin bags are very popular in the workplace and are available in a range of thicknesses, to deal with light duty use such as paper, right through to super heavy duty bags for disposing of rubble and other hardcore materials on building sites etc.