North America Trash Bags - Market Share Analysis, Industry Trends & Statistics, Growth Forecasts 2019 - 2029

The North America Trash Bags Market size is estimated at USD 3.43 billion in 2024, and is expected to reach USD 4.98 billion by 2029, growing at a CAGR of 7.77% during the forecast period (2024-2029).

Trash bags, typically made of polyethylene, are tough and light and hold garbage securely without leakage or spillover. So, they are used in many different end-user industries in the North American market, such as residential, commercial, and industrial.

Key Highlights

• Trash bag mandates have increased the use of trash bags, which is aided by trash bag manufacturers such as Reynolds Consumer Products, which use more than the mandated content in the production of trash bags.For instance, according to the company, Reynolds Consumer Products' Hefty compostable trash bags are made from 50% recycled plastic.
• Overall, the trash bag market in North America has been adapting to the new regulations and procedures, even though they are causing some challenges for market players. These rules gave the market new ways to grow if market players came up with sustainable trash bags that met the requirements of the new rules.
• The trash bags market is expected to grow in the forecast period, owing to the increasing demand from end-user industries. However, a few regions of North America have passed laws banning the disposal of lawn and garden waste in landfills. Sustainable and biodegradable resins are significant factors in the market's growth.
• Bans on single-use plastic bags, one of the most pervasive sources of pollution, are affecting states and cities across the United States as efforts to combat global plastic production pick up. As the single-use plastic ban and regulations are positively impacting sales of trash bags in the region, eventually these bans and regulations will start to include trash bags within these bans. This means that the bans on single-use plastic bags might help trash bags in the short term, but they are likely to slow the growth of the market in the long term.
• After COVID-19, several businesses and governments used a variety of initiatives to boost the usage of trash bags in the region or obtain a competitive advantage. For example, the US resident population expanded by 0.4% in 2022, according to the US Census Bureau's Vintage 2022 state and national population statistics. Also, the number of people moving in and out of the country and international migration are the main reasons why growth is getting back to what it was before the pandemic.

North America Trash Bags Market Trends

Residential Sector Holds Major Market Share

• The residential sector of the market studied generates a significant amount of waste. Therefore, the penetration of trash bags is substantial in the consumer segment. The players operating in the market focused on innovative product development for domestic waste management, further boosting the segment's growth.
• Moreover, Americans are often quite impulsive in terms of their food purchases. The United States Environmental Protection Agency estimates that the average US household produces around 19.36 metric tons of food waste per year, one of the highest amounts worldwide (source: such instances lead to a major demand for trash bags).
• Also, a study from Columbia University found that 20% of US trash is made up of things that don't last long, like clothes and newspapers. Yard trimmings (13.3%) and food and other organic materials (14.9%) also make up a big part of US trash.
• Moreover, the increasing rate of residential construction across the North American region is also expected to positively impact the studied market's growth. For instance, as per the US Census Bureau, in June 2022, privately owned housing completions were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,365,000. This was 4.6 percent below the revised May estimate of 1,431,000. However, compared to the previous year's period, this was 4.6 percent above the June 2021 rate of 1,305,000.
• According to the US Census Bureau, there has been significant growth in the entire US population, signifying an early indication of recovery amid the COVID-19 pandemic. After a historically low rate of change between the years 2020 and 2021, the US resident population rose by around 0.4%, or 1,256,003, to 333,287,557 in 2022, as per the US Census Bureau's Vintage 2022 national and state population estimates and components of change released in December 2022. Because of this increase in the United States' total population, there will be more trash in the country, which will help the market grow a lot.

United States Holds Significant Market Share

• US cities and states are taking strides toward a zero-waste policy. Around 11 states in the country have passed bans on single-use plastic bags, seven states have passed bans on expanded polystyrene containers, and more cities are considering bans on other single-use food wares and packaging.
• The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) is the public law that creates the framework for the proper management of hazardous and non-hazardous solid waste. The law describes the waste management program mandated by Congress. According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, plastics have been a rapidly growing part of municipal solid waste (MSW). Plastic is found in all significant MSW categories.
• The United States produces more than 12% of the planet's municipal solid waste (MSW), though it is home to only 4% of the world's population. Apart from this, there is a large amount of waste created by industrial processes, mostly in the household product manufacturing industry. Activities like mining, manufacturing, and agriculture create industrial solid waste, which is poorly tracked but may account for up to 97% of America's total waste (source: US PIRG Education Fund).

The Environmental Protection Agency of the United States regulates household and industrial waste in order to protect citizens from the hazards of waste disposal. It also seeks to conserve energy and natural resources, reduce and eliminate waste, and clean up waste that has been improperly disposed of. This is likely to promote the growth of the trash bag market.

North America Trash Bags Industry Overview

The North American trash bags market is moderately fragmented with the presence of major players like Berry Global Inc., Riverside Paper Co. Inc., The Clorox Company (Glad Products Company), Cosmoplast Industrial Company LLC, and Reynolds Consumer Products Inc. (Hefty), among others. Players in the market are adopting strategies such as partnerships and acquisitions to enhance their product offerings and gain a sustainable competitive advantage.

In September 2022, Novolex Holdings LLC announced an investment of USD 10 million to boost the capacity to recycle polyethylene films, including plastic bags, at its North Vernon, Indiana, recycling facility. The investment in recycling and recovery machinery would allow the company to produce nearly 28 million pounds of recycled material per year, which would be used to create goods built with post-industrial or post-consumer recycled content. The factory is one of the company's two world-class film recycling centers.

Reynolds Consumer Products Inc., which owns Hefty, released a new line of small and medium trash bags with high-end features in May 2022. This was done with a single-minded focus on putting the customer first.

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