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When regulations say that food waste should be in plastic bags, are these bags separate from the plastic bags everyone already uses for general trash anyway? For example, this source says that food waste "should be drained, wrapped and placed in a plastic bag before placing in [a] garbage cart." Likewise, this PDF for another city says that food waste should be "drained, wrapped and placed in [a] plastic bag." I used these regulations to ask about de minimis principles here:

Are there de minimis exceptions to "food waste" for trash collection?

However, one user felt that the "plastic bags" simply reference the everyday, "13 gallon plastic kitchen bags or 30 gallon plastic trash can liners to consolidate your trash inside your house or apartment" anyway. However, since the regulations cited seem to want plastic bags specifically within the context of "food waste," rather than saying it in a more general section of the trash regulations, could it be that these city instructions aren't referring to general plastic waste bags but, instead, bags containing just food waste specifically?

Stated another way, are the plastic bags referenced supposed to be used for food specifically, or does a plastic bag with food and all sorts of other trash in it still qualify? Is there reason to think trash companies may want food waste in its own bag (perhaps environmental)?

Notice: To confirm this justified a separate question, I first asked about it here on the Meta site.

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    This can't be answered nationally as it varies widely by city, and perhaps even by neighborhood, since different neighborhoods may have different companies or agencies in charge of picking up waste. In my city, food waste has to go into a separate compost bin, and ordinary plastic bags are absolutely forbidden, as they are not compostable. Bags certified to be compostable are allowed. If you specify a city, someone might be able to answer, but your best bet is to contact whoever is responsible for your garbage collection and ask them.
    – Charles E. Grant
    Jan 27, 2022 at 19:48
  • in Germany, there are thousands of almost copy-pasted ordinances for biological waste disposal as the city owned services often copy a standard text made by the lobby of those services. Ordinances about such waste that goes to the recycling centers generally forbid any plastic containers or bags within the bins that are handed out by the recycling centers - including bags of supposedly compostable plastics.
    – Trish
    Feb 1, 2022 at 10:41

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