Inventors

• The first plastic garbage bags were invented by three Canadians working independently of one another. Harry Wasylyk, an Ontario inventor, started making polyethylene bags in his kitchen in 1950. Larry Hanson, an employee at an Ontario Union Carbide plant, began making bags for use at the plant around the same time. Frank Plomp of Toronto also made and sold bags in the 1950s. Union Carbide made the first bags for sale to the public in the 1960s.
  
  

Extrusion Process

• Manufacturers turn polyethylene into garbage bags with a process called extrusion. The polyethylene is delivered to the plant as small resin beads. They go into the hopper of the extruder, along with any additives, such as colorants.
  
  

Blown Film Process

• Garbage bags are created through a "blown film" process in which the heated, softened polyethylene beads and additives are fed into an upright, cylindrical die that shapes the plastic into thin tubes.
  
  

Final Product

• The tubes of plastic are cooled, cut and sealed on one end. Now they are ready to be packaged.