My city has required composting for food and paper towels, and I've been using these bags for the past year or two. I use them to line a recycling container that is slightly smaller than a kitchen trash can, and they fit perfectly. I haven't had a problem with them ripping or leaking except for once or twice - I think some particularly sturdy kale poked through the bag. Otherwise they've been great. They're not plastic, so they don't hold up as well as plastic bags, but that's kind of the point. I don't fill them very full, mostly because I empty my compost frequently. I also don't pour a lot of liquids into them, because I don't think liquid necessarily needs to be composted. (If it's greasy, it probably needs to go in the garbage, and if it's watery, I pour it in the sink.) These bags have worked great for me.