# Does ANYONE use twisty-ties on garbage bags? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 24, 2003, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-use-twisty-ties-on-garbage-bags/183986 "2003-06-24T10:32:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Missy2U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@Missy2U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Missy2U)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2003, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-use-twisty-ties-on-garbage-bags/183986/21 "2003-06-24T15:13:13Z")
Originally posted by **Kalhoun** > [@](#): > > I just hold the bread bag at the top, spin the bread, and then fold the bag down around the bread to keep it closed. Anyone else do that? Yep - that’s what we do. I’ve insisted on it. We haven’t experienced a “twisty buried in a sammich stabbing our gums with wire” since we started this practice. Although it was somewhat difficult to train the other 2U’s - Mr2U had a “thing” for those plastic square seal the bag thingies, and everytime Mini2U would try to remove them, the bag would rip. Because he’s was a child at the time. He’s 13 now, and has informed me that he is no longer a “child”. But I digress. ---
**Author:** ![3waygeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/e95f7d/32.png) [@3waygeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3waygeek)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2003, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-use-twisty-ties-on-garbage-bags/183986/22 "2003-06-24T16:05:05Z")
I do. If the bags aren’t closed, they won’t be picked up. My city has a “pay as you throw” program, so we have to buy [special bags](http://www.duluth-ga.com/bus_office/Sanitation/garbage.htm) at $1.10 per. These bags are considerably thicker than your run-of-the-mill bag, so they’re practically impossible to knot if they’re more than half full – at $1.10 per bag, I make sure it’s as full as I can get it. ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2003, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-use-twisty-ties-on-garbage-bags/183986/23 "2003-06-24T16:52:56Z")
**neutron star** , your illustrations crack me up! The top picture looks like a “Mad” magazine artist’s rendition of a stomach. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by 3waygeek \* > **My city has a “pay as you throw” program, so we have to buy [special bags](http://www.duluth-ga.com/bus_office/Sanitation/garbage.htm) at $1.10 per.** Boy that’s rough. I feel spoiled rotten: two pickup days per week, they take anything short of dead bodies. I even put out construction debris in nice 50lb bundles and it evaporates while I am at work. Of course I suspect that NJ property tax is about five times GA property tax, so maybe the buck-ten is a deal after all. Oh, and add me to the list of folks who follow **Kalhoun** ’s bread wrapping technique. It’s so much faster and easier than putting that silly clippy thing back on. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2003, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-use-twisty-ties-on-garbage-bags/183986/24 "2003-06-24T17:34:00Z")
I use them. As some have mentioned, there just isn’t enough slack to form a know. So, for some it comes down to using just the right size bag? For bread: we use clothespins. Also used on a lot of other things. ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2003, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-use-twisty-ties-on-garbage-bags/183986/25 "2003-06-24T17:46:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by 3waygeek \* > \*\*If the bags aren’t closed, they won’t be picked up. My city has a “pay as you throw” program, so we have to buy [special bags](http://www.duluth-ga.com/bus_office/Sanitation/garbage.htm) at $1.10 per. These bags are considerably thicker than your run-of-the-mill bag, so they’re practically impossible to knot if they’re more than half full – at $1.10 per bag, I make sure it’s as full as I can get it. \*\* [indignant hijack]I pay $13+ a month and usually generate less than one full bag a week.[/indignant hijack] I use twisty ties only when the bag is very full. ---
**Author:** ![Arcite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/67e7ee/32.png) [@Arcite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arcite)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2003, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-use-twisty-ties-on-garbage-bags/183986/26 "2003-06-24T18:02:05Z")
I usually use them, just because they come with the bags and I want to use them up. That said, being single and living alone, I don’t use large garbage bags very often anyway. [hijack] **neutron star** , like **minor7flat5** , I am in stitches over your illustrations! I nominate you to be the official SDMB illustrator. Many a confusing thread would benefit from such a diagram. [/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![Doomtrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@Doomtrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doomtrain)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2003, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-use-twisty-ties-on-garbage-bags/183986/27 "2003-06-24T19:07:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Kalhoun \* > \*\* > I use drawstring garbage bags. And I pitch those silly little bread bag flat clippy thingys, too. I just hold the bread bag at the top, spin the bread, and then fold the bag down around the bread to keep it closed. Anyone else do that? \*\* I do too. Whenever I untwistie the thing, I usually lose the twistie. And it’s just easier to spin n’ fold. ---
**Author:** ![Peg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b38774/32.png) [@Peg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peg)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2003, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-use-twisty-ties-on-garbage-bags/183986/28 "2003-06-24T20:42:50Z")
My city has a pay-as-you-throw program too, but it’s calculated by the size of the bin that you get from the city. I’ve been trying to get them to give me a smaller bin because I surely don’t use up all that bin space and I’m sick of my neighbors who keep dumping their trash into my bin because they generate way more trash than their bin allows them to. But that’s another issue… I don’t buy trashbags. For trash, I use a paper sack from the grocery store lined with a plastic bag (sometimes reused if not “contaminated” and just a plain paper sack for the recyclables. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2003, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-use-twisty-ties-on-garbage-bags/183986/29 "2003-06-24T21:02:58Z")
I _weanted_ to use the twisties, but they’re pretty ineffective at keeping even a half-full bag closed, so I just tie a knot instead. ---
**Author:** ![JessEnigma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/cdc98d/32.png) [@JessEnigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JessEnigma)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2003, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-use-twisty-ties-on-garbage-bags/183986/30 "2003-06-24T22:39:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Kalhoun \* > \*\*I just hold the bread bag at the top, spin the bread, and then fold the bag down around the bread to keep it closed. Anyone else do that? \*\* I do that. Depending on how much bread is in the bad, though. If it’s too full, it won’t have enough excess bag to spin good enough to keep out the air. Unfortunately, other members of the family don’t bother to spin the bag, they kinda just leave it open and the bread gets stale quicker. Grrr. And normally, we buy the drawstring bags or bags with handles, but when we do buy the bags with twist ties, we never use them. We did for a while, but it never did work right, so we’d just tie the top of the bag. ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2003, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-use-twisty-ties-on-garbage-bags/183986/31 "2003-06-24T23:47:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Arcite \* > \*\*[hijack] > **neutron star** , like **minor7flat5** , I am in stitches over your illustrations! I nominate you to be the official SDMB illustrator. Many a confusing thread would benefit from such a diagram. > [/hijack] \*\* Thanks. I have way too much spare time lately and not enough to fill it with. Also, I have drugs. I did something similar in [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=190453) bizarre, intentionally confusing, parody Pit thread. Official SDMB Illustrator for Confusing Concepts would be a fun job, although my MS Paint, 15-minute, crap-drawings _do_ make even 'ol Sluggo’s illustrations look like Rembrandts. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Violet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ebca7d/32.png) [@Violet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Violet)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-use-twisty-ties-on-garbage-bags/183986/32 "2003-06-25T06:00:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by neutron star \* > \*\* Do any of you guys actually use twisty-ties on garbage bags? \*\* Yes! ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-use-twisty-ties-on-garbage-bags/183986/33 "2003-06-25T12:55:04Z")
Minor7 Flat5 said, “Oh, and add me to the list of folks who follow Kalhoun’s bread wrapping technique. It’s so much faster and easier than putting that silly clippy thing back on.” See, I tried to teach this to my dad, but he actually RECOILED when I demonstrated the technique. He’s so hung up on the wire twisty thingy and the flat plastic clippy thingy (if anyone can come up with the “technical” names for these devices, you will be a genius in my mind forever). Also, he’s a serious neat-nik. I think this has everything to do with it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-use-twisty-ties-on-garbage-bags/183986.md?page=1)