Before plastic garbage bags arrived in the late 1960s, people managed their household waste with a combination of metal cans, newspaper, backyard burning, and a lot less packaging to throw away in the first place. The disposable polyethylene garbage bag was invented in 1950 by Harry Wasylyk and Larry Hanson in Canada, but it spent nearly two decades as a commercial product before reaching home kitchens. For most of the 20th century, households relied on methods that sound almost foreign today.
Metal Cans and Concrete Vaults
The galvanized steel trash can was the centerpiece of household waste disposal for decades. Families placed loose trash directly into metal pails or cans, which were then set at the curb for pickup. Dry rubbish like paper, bottles, and tin cans went straight in without any liner. After collection, the cans were hauled back inside, often needing a rinse from the garden hose.
Wet waste, mainly food scraps and organic material, was a bigger challenge. In some neighborhoods during the early and mid-1900s, homes used subterranean garbage receivers, essentially a metal bin set inside a concrete-lined hole in the ground with a heavy hinged lid operated by a foot pedal. A version patented by F.B. Jones in 1911 was manufactured for decades in Somerville, Massachusetts. Storing garbage underground kept it cooler and the heavy metal lid kept rats out, solving two problems that open-air cans couldn’t.
Newspaper, Paper Bags, and String
Without plastic liners, people got creative about keeping the inside of their trash cans clean. Many households lined their kitchen waste bins and wastebaskets with layers of newspaper. Others wrapped their garbage in paper grocery bags, then wrapped those bundles in newspaper and tied them with string before dropping them into the metal can. One common memory from people who grew up in the 1950s and 1960s: fathers wrapping trash in newspaper and tying it up “like a present” before putting it in the can.
This wrapping method served the same purpose plastic bags do today. It contained odors, absorbed moisture from food scraps, and kept the metal bin from getting caked with residue. It also meant garbage collection was slower and messier for workers, since bundles could fall apart and loose waste often stuck to the bottom of cans.
Backyard Burning Was Standard Practice
A huge share of household trash never made it to the curb at all. Before regular curbside pickup became widespread, families burned a major portion of their waste in backyard incinerators. These were small structures made of concrete, cinder block, brick, or metal, and prefabricated versions had been available since the late 1800s. If you live in a house built before 1960 in parts of Southern California, you might still find the charred remains of one in the yard.
In Los Angeles, backyard burning wasn’t just tolerated, it was officially encouraged. In 1896, the city’s board of health determined that garbage collection couldn’t keep up with the growing population and began allowing residents to burn their own garbage at home. The practice became deeply embedded in daily life. By the mid-1950s, Los Angeles County alone had roughly 1.5 million backyard incinerators in use.
The environmental cost was staggering. When L.A. County became the first to enact a county-wide ban on backyard incinerators in October 1957, pollution from home burning dropped from 800 tons to nearly zero. Other municipalities followed with their own bans through the 1960s and 1970s, which meant more waste needed to go curbside, right around the same time plastic bags were becoming available to consumers.
Less Trash to Begin With
Households in the pre-plastic-bag era simply produced less waste. Many families composted food scraps directly into their gardens. Glass bottles were returned and reused. Tin cans and paper made up the bulk of what remained. Several people who remember the era recall that their kitchen trash cans were about the size of a five-gallon bucket, because between composting, burning paper, and returning bottles, there wasn’t much left to throw away.
Source separation, the practice of sorting different types of waste, actually dates back further than most people realize. In the 1890s, New York City’s street cleaning commissioner George Waring formalized curbside refuse collection and instituted source separation of garbage with the goal of resource recovery. Residents sorted organic waste from dry rubbish, and the city attempted to reclaim useful materials from each stream. The idea of separating recyclables wasn’t invented in the 1970s; it was reinvented.
How Plastic Bags Took Over
The first plastic garbage bags were sold to the Winnipeg General Hospital in Canada around 1950. For nearly 20 years, they remained a commercial and institutional product. Union Carbide began manufacturing green polyethylene bags for home use in the late 1960s, marketing them under the Glad brand name. By the mid-1970s, plastic garbage bags had become a household staple across North America.
The timing lined up perfectly with several other shifts. Backyard incinerator bans forced more waste to the curb. Curbside pickup became more frequent and standardized. Consumer packaging was generating more trash than ever before. Plastic bags offered a clean, convenient solution that made the old system of newspaper wrapping, metal-can scrubbing, and loose-waste hauling feel instantly outdated. Within a single generation, the entire ritual of household garbage disposal was transformed.