The bags say that the “neutralizer fights nasty odors to keep your kitchen smelling fresh”.
But if I have some disgusting, decaying trash in the pail that is continuously giving off disgusting, decaying odors; how could anything neutralize that? Does the “neutralizer” release into the air and just eat up the disgusting smells? And if that’s so, should humans be breathing that? Or is it just like air freshener which is just one smell on top of another?
In: Chemistry
This may not necessarily be the case for trash bags, but the “odor neutralizing” components of certain sprays (eg, Febreze) are molecules called cyclodextrins. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclodextrin
Cyclodextrins are ring – shaped molecules that have a structure designed to “trap” other molecules. The idea is that these cyclodextrins trap odor-causing molecules and render them inert (basically, they can no longer activate the smell receptors in your nose). I don’t know if they have tested to see if cyclodextrins actually work as described.
I also don’t know if “odor-neutralizing” trash bags utilize this technology, but in my experience, it seems that they’re just trash bags with added fragrance.
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