Best Compostable Bags in 2026: Certified Kitchen, Countertop and Yard Waste Bags Ranked by Owners

Forid makes the small compostable bag that quietly fixes a problem: the bathroom and bedroom bins that nobody wants to line with a plastic grocery bag. At 1.2 gallons and 16.9 by 17.7 inches, it fits round bins up to 10.7 inches across and rectangular ones with a side up to 8 inches, and the listing is unusually specific about that. The bottom is octagonal and heat-sealed at 230 C, which Forid says survives 26 pounds, and owners widely praise it as the rare small bag that does not leak. It is certified to ASTM D6400 and EN 13432 and the film is a plant starch material that is unscented and translucent green, so you can see when a bin is full. You get 150 per pack, which is more than any other pick here. It is not a kitchen compost bag in the usual sense, because a countertop pail fills a 1.2-gallon liner in a day, and Forid does not state the thickness in mils. For every other small bin in the house it is the pick. Our score 9/10.

BioBag has been making compostable bags longer than almost anyone, and its 2.6-gallon food scrap bag is the benchmark countertop liner. It is 16 by 17 inches, fits most kitchen pails, and is made in the USA from a resin imported from Italy that is certified by BPI to ASTM D6400 and approved by the Compost Manufacturing Alliance after testing in real facilities. The bag is also home compostable. Its distinctive feature is that the film breathes: moisture evaporates through it, which is why BioBag recommends a ventilated pail and why owners widely praise it for keeping smells down compared with sealed plastic. The flip side of breathable film is that it is thin at 0.64 mil and will wick a little, so the pail needs a rinse and the bag needs changing every couple of days rather than weekly. It costs more per bag than the generic rolls below. If you compost at home and want a bag that genuinely vanishes in the pile, this is the one. Our score 9/10.

Most compostable bags are plain flat-top sacks you tie by the corners, which is fine until a 13-gallon bag of wet scraps has to be lifted out of a can. This bag adds a drawstring, and it also happens to be the thickest 13-gallon compostable film on the page at 1.02 mil, which is why owners widely praise it for carrying heavy, wet loads without tearing. The certifications are thorough: BPI to ASTM D6400 with the certificate number listed, OK compost HOME and INDUSTRIAL from TUV Austria, and an SGS test for PFAS, the forever chemicals that have turned up in some compostable packaging. At 34 by 26 inches it fits tall kitchen cans and most compost carts, and it doubles as a leaf bag. It is a newer brand without the decades of history behind BioBag, and the listing honestly notes that commercial composting is not available everywhere, which is true of every pick here. If you want the strongest 13-gallon bag and a handle to carry it by, this is it. Our score 8.8/10.

For yard waste, the choice has traditionally been paper leaf bags that go soft in rain or plastic ones that no compost site wants. GreFusion’s 36-gallon bag is the middle path: a corn-starch film 1.28 mil thick with a star-sealed bottom, 53 inches tall and 35 wide, certified by BPI to ASTM D6400 and EN 13432 and OK compost HOME, so it can go into a municipal green cart or a home pile along with the leaves. Owners widely praise it for autumn cleanup and for lining outdoor compost cans, where it stays intact through wet weather better than paper. The listing is candid about compostable film’s weakness: when the bag holds food waste, especially acidic or alkaline waste, dispose of it within three days, because the material is designed to start breaking down. It is also, obviously, too large for a kitchen can. For a garden, a restaurant kitchen or a big outdoor compost bin, it is the pick. Our score 8.8/10.

If you change your countertop pail liner every day, which the makers of every bag here quietly recommend, 100 bags last three months and the cost adds up. This 2.6-gallon bag comes 200 to a pack, is 0.71 mil, a little thicker than BioBag, and is certified by BPI to ASTM D6400 and by TUV Austria for backyard composting. Owners praise it as the sensible bulk buy for a household that composts every meal, and for holding up better than the thin bags that come with pails. The constraint is time: the listing asks you to buy only what you can use in ten months and to change the bag every one to two days, because compostable film weakens as it ages and as it sits against wet scraps. Two hundred bags at one a day is just inside that window; at one every three days it is not. Store the pack cool and dry, away from the stove. For a daily composter it is the value pick. Our score 8.8/10.

This is the compostable liner for a 55-gallon restaurant can, a school cafeteria or a big outdoor compost tumbler. At 42 by 48 inches and 1.57 mil it is the thickest and largest bag we found with full certification: BPI to ASTM D6400 and EN 13432, plus OK compost HOME. The film is multi-layer for tear resistance, the bottom is octagonal and formed in one piece, and the maker claims odor reduction, which owners who use it for food waste broadly confirm. The practical limits are the ones that apply to all compostable film, magnified by size. You get only 15 bags per pack, the maker says to store it cool and dry and use it within a year, and a full 55-gallon bag of wet food waste is heavy, so it needs a can with a sturdy rim. No household needs this, but a small food business trying to meet a composting mandate will find few alternatives at this size with the paperwork to match. Our score 8.8/10.

We include this 1.6-gallon bag because it is the most-bought small compost bag in our catalog and because its mixed owner sentiment teaches the most important lesson about this category. On paper it is fine: certified to ASTM D6400 and EN 13432, made from corn starch, vegetable oil and PBAT, 150 to a carton with no plastic packaging, and sized for the small pails that come with most countertop caddies. The trouble is that compostable film has a shelf life, and the most common owner complaints mention bags that arrived brittle or split along the seam after a day, which is what aged starch film does. Owners who received a fresh carton are generally happy. If you buy it, buy one carton at a time, check that the first bag stretches rather than crackles, and use it within a few months. If you would rather not gamble, the BioBag or the 200-count 2.6-gallon bag above do the same job with a more consistent history. Our score 7.8/10.