Twice a year, some of us in the neighborhood meet to pick up litter and trash from our streets and alleys. At times, the litter can get pretty heavy and over the years, we have had problems with our trash bags not holding up to the abuse they were getting. Twigs, broken glass, or bits of scrap lumber or metal easily punctured the sides of the bags, which would then split from top to bottom. And forget about filling the bags to the top; anymore than 5 or 6 pounds of weight and they'd break open at the bottom, dumping the contents right onto the ground.

Because we were collecting such a variety of garbage, our group was forever trying different products in hopes of finding a trash bag that was up to the challenge of a Neighborhood Cleanup Day. What we needed was something that was thick, durable, puncture proof and tear proof that could hold all kinds of trash.

A few years ago, I found a display of Hefty brand 42 gallon Husky Contractor Trash Bags at my local Home Depot store. According to the description on the box, these bags were 3 mm thick and made of a tough polyethylene. It even showed a picture of a couple of burly hands trying to pull apart the bag. I figured if these worked for contractors, they should work for our neighborhood trash.

The box of Husky Contractor Bags was surprisingly heavy and no wonder; the individual bags were thick and had an amazing amount of heft. I tried to punch my thumb through the side of the bag and couldn't do it because the plastic was just too strong. These bags seemed to be as strong as the orange bags used by our local Highway Department.

The Husky Contractor Bags were put to the test at our next cleanup day. Neighbors stuffed them full of branches and broken glass, wood with nails sticking out; someone even found a roll of chicken wire which he rolled into a bag. We had a few cases in which sharp metal pierced through the sides, but unlike cheaper trash bags, the Husky Contractor Bags didn't tear and even kept the trash contained. The bags held up so well in fact, that we found they could be reused by dumping the litter out of the bag and into the dumpsters provided by the city. We were able to clean up the entire neighborhood of 33 square blocks using only 20 bags. In past years, we needed 80 standard yard bags to do the very same job.

All the volunteers were impressed with the quality of this product. The 42 gallon size and incredible strength allowed us to fill the bags to capacity which saved us time and money. We can't imagine using another product for our event, which is why for the past 3 years, Husky Contractor Bags have been the trash bags of choice for our Neighborhood Cleanup Day.

Hefty brand Husky Contractor Bags are available at Home Depot for $14 per 32 count box.