A long while back, I purchased an unbranded set of trash bags from Dollar Tree that were absolutely horrendous, and hands down the worst garbage bags I’ve ever had the misfortune of using. If I recall correctly, I suggested that they be immediately removed from the shelves and never sold again; they didn’t listen, as they can still be purchased online (and probably in stores…I’m programmed to just skim over them if I see them).

However, a short while after that debacle, I purchased the same product, only in the Goodsense brand. At first, I was a little skeptical that it might be the same product, only with an added brand name, but those fears were quickly allayed after using them. It’s been four years that I’ve been using them, and I just realized that I have not reviewed them. So for those of you that might be a little leery of using any trash product from Dollar Tree after reading my review (or after using them yourself), I feel I owe this to you (and them) to show that there are actually some decent trash-related products there.

Now, to be clear, let’s set things straight right off the bat: These trash bags still aren’t great. They tear relatively easy, and thus should be ruled out for any kind of “heavy duty” work, including yard work. But unlike the unbranded piles of junk that I took a look at four years ago, for any kind of low- to medium-duty work, these should get the job done. I’ve used them to take clothes to Goodwill, filled them to the top, and had no problems with them. I also use them as standard trash bags, and as long as there’s nothing sharp in them, they’ve been able to handle anything I toss their way.

Surprisingly, weight doesn’t seem to be much of a factor; I’ve filled trash to the very top of them several times, and they’ve taken the weight with no problems. We live in condominiums and have to travel to the end of our units for the dumpster, so we’re talking at least 50-100 steps (maybe even a little bit more), so it’s not like I just walk them three steps to the garage and call it a day. They really can withstand quite a bit of weight.

Again, the biggest downfall is that the slightest stab can gut these things open like a fish. I understand the same can be said for any trash bag, but a lot of the more expensive ones I’ve used are at least semi-resistant to stab wounds–that is, if they do get punctured, the hole is usually limited to where the penetration occurred. These, on the other hand, if they receive any kind of cut, they’re pretty much done for…it doesn’t take much pressure at all to worsen the cut, and before you know it, you have a completely split and unusable trash bag.

We’ve tried using these in the kitchen, but they tended to rip more often than not up there. I use these exclusively in my basement–my man cave–where all I generally throw away are empty cans (or bottles) of alcohol and empty paper plates of food, and these have given me zero troubles over the years. If nothing else, I find these are great to have on hand just in case, and with eight coming in each package, there are plenty to handle all your basic chores.

Overall: 6.5/10. These rip a little too easy–anything with even a slight edge is prone to tearing these apart–but for the price, I still have a box of these on hands at all times. I tend to keep them in my basement, where the only trash are empty alcohol containers, the occasional paper or junk mail, and used paper plates, and have had zero problems with these, even after filling them all the way to the top. Also used them to donate mounds of clothes to a donation center, and they had no problems supporting the weight. They’re nowhere near premium, but they represent a reasonable balance of performance and price that makes them a great value.