Pink zebra print on the waste bag? That goes too far for the consumer

It is still in the garden of a few households: one of those garbage cans made of galvanized metal, a relic from days long gone. In the 1970s, the garbage can gave way to the dark gray garbage bag. An important innovation: the garbage collector no longer had to tip that heavy container into the garbage truck under his own power.

Since then, a lot has been tinkered with that thick plastic garbage bag. At Brabantia, which introduced the first indoor pedal bin in 1952 and is now one of the larger European manufacturers of waste bins and waste bags, they know all about it. “Over the years, we have brought more and more different waste bins onto the market,” says Anne Slaats, brand manager at the company in Valkenswaard. “On the one hand, they were geared to the amount of waste in the household, and on the other to use in specific areas, such as the kitchen or bathroom. The separation of waste also led to more different waste bins.”

This diversity led to complaints from consumers that the standard available waste bags did not fit properly. Slaats: “That they had to pull and push to get the bag into the bucket or that the bag was just too big.”

More than twenty years ago, this complaint was the impulse for Brabantia to design better fitting bags. Brabantia immediately designs a perfectly fitting bag for every waste bin that is now on the market. The color and code on the packaging indicate which bag the consumer should have. The bucket itself also receives a code.

Twan Verdonck, creative director of Brabantia, shows a waste bin with two compartments in the showroom of the brand new company building. Each box has a sticker with a code and color, so that the user knows which bag to put in it. “Of course we try to design as many buckets as possible for which a suitable bag already exists, because a store shelf with dozens of color codes becomes too complicated for the consumer.” The company now makes seventeen different types of bags for the more than fifty bins in the collection, from the kitchen to the bathroom.

zebra print bag

Brabantia, which had a turnover of 151 million euros in 2021, has already unleashed a lot of innovations on the garbage bag. First, the bag got thinner over the years, but while maintaining strength, the company underlines. “This way we need less plastic,” explains Slaats. Also, the bag is no longer dark gray, but white in color. “It looks fresher and more hygienic.”

For those who want a trendy waste bag, Brabantia introduced bags with design prints, such as zebra and panther motifs, and bags with texts such as ‘Ich bin ein binliner‘. Verdonck: „Nobody likes to take away the waste bag or put it in the wheelie bin, but a print like this makes it just that little bit more fun. ”

But you can also go too far, Brabantia discovered during conversations with consumers. “Many users find a pink zebra print or a mint green print too much of a good thing,” says Verdonck. “It’s just a garbage bag, they say. So we didn’t implement that idea.”

Also the bag with a smell did not come. “Then you have to add additives and we don’t think that is sustainable,” says Slaats. The bag with holes at the top, so that the air can escape more easily when you change the bag, and the compostable bag that can completely go into the green container, were made.

The most recent innovation is the use of recycled plastic in the waste bag. Testing is done with different percentages of recycled material. And because this raw material is generally less strong than new, virgin plastic, the thickness of the bag should be reconsidered.

The average consumer wants to pay as little as possible for a waste bag, a product that he feels does not enjoy much

In Belgium, it is being tested whether bags with 80 percent recycled raw material are strong enough. And whether the consumer will accept the slightly higher price (recycled plastic is now even more expensive than new). The average consumer simply wants to pay as little as possible for a waste bag, a product of which he needs approximately one hundred and twenty per year and which he feels does not have much fun with.

Slaats: “We test in Belgium, because the government there sets stricter requirements for the waste bag than in the Netherlands. It would be good if the Dutch government were to do the same, because that stimulates municipalities, consumers, retailers and manufacturers, and that accelerates the transition to a more sustainable society.”

The problem with recycled plastic is that there must be enough clean material available. Because Brabantia produces millions of waste bags a year, in its own factory in China. “We cannot switch to recycled plastic and discover after a few months that the stock of suitable raw material has run out or that its composition has deteriorated,” explains Slaats. “Constant quality is extremely important to Brabantia.”

Fully circular

But the recycled waste bag will certainly come, according to Slaats and Verdonck, because Brabantia’s goal is to be fully circular by 2035. Not only the waste bags, but all of the company’s products – from ironing boards to soap dispensers and lunch boxes – must then be made of recycled and preferably reusable material. At the end of last year, the StepUp pedal bin was introduced, which already consists of 91 percent recycled household plastic. Slaats: “Until now, our most important innovation for waste bags was the perfectly fitting bag that does not tear, but that will be the recycled bag.”

Slaats: “At Brabantia, we think more about a circular world than about selling more waste bags. If Dutch households start producing so little waste that we no longer need waste bags, that’s fine with us. Then we come up with something else.”