The best trash bags under $25

The grip band is the underrated feature in this category — it is the difference between a bag that stays on the rim and one you find collapsed at the bottom with trash around it. For ordinary kitchen waste the single layer is plenty, and a fragrance-free version exists, which matters if scented bags give you a headache.

Hefty's Ultra Strong line resists leaks, punctures and rips and carries odor control across the whole bag rather than in one strip. If your problem is a can that smells within a day rather than bags that split, this is the more useful of the two big brands.

Plasticplace is a liner supplier rather than a supermarket brand, which shows in two ways that matter: it publishes a mil figure, and it sells in counts built for places that go through bags. At 200 to a case the per-bag cost is the lowest on this page. Unscented, drawstring, and sized to an 8-gallon can rather than to a shelf label.

Twenty gallons is a size the bag aisle mostly skips, and the gap matters because a 20-gallon kitchen can gets its extra volume from height - 29 to 32 inches of it - so a 13-gallon bag physically cannot reach the rim. This is Hefty's answer: an extra-tall version of the Ultra Strong drawstring in an 80-count. Hefty's own claim on the listing is that it holds 50% more than its 13-gallon bag, which is the right way to read it. This is a taller bag, not a wider one.

A drawstring is a convenience, not a requirement, and dropping it is most of why this costs less per bag than the branded drawstring boxes. For a bin that is emptied straight into an outdoor cart - an office bin, a bedroom bin, a workshop bin - the ties are completely adequate and you tie a tighter knot than a drawstring ever manages. The 80-count keeps the per-bag cost down at a size where small boxes are the norm.

If you have just bought a small can and you do not yet know whether an 8-gallon liner fits it properly, this is the box to buy first. It is a drawstring bag from a brand that has to stand behind it, in a count small enough that getting it wrong costs very little. Hefty's scent system is a continuous-release additive rather than a top note, which in practice means it is less sharp on opening than the Glad bleach-scented bags and more persistent over a week.