This is really a great idea. I am sure they could add an attached plastic collar to the bags that would match up with the blower/mulcher. I guess the trick would be to make the attachment biodegradable as many of the paper bags are put into huge compost piles. This would save quite a bit of time – perhaps the plastic collar could be torn off when you seal up the bag.

Some municipalities come by and vacuum up your leaf piles, then turn that into compost. This saves you time and reduces use of plastic bags.

I can see two big issues to be addressed to make this viable: a plastic bag strong enough to withstand the force of the blower/vacuum; a way for the air to escape. The cloth bags allow the debris to be caught and the air to pass, otherwise you have no vacuum.

No, no - heavy biodegradable paper bags, like our town requires.

I like the idea although probably the best method (ecologically)of dealing with leaves is having the municipality decide to vacuum them up or do what I have done in the past, shred the leaf pile with my lawn mower and add a layer of leaf mulch atop my garden beds for the winter.

It seems like it would be easier to have a permanent attachment built into the blower that can grab onto the standard bags and create a seal with some type of clamp(s), like the type of clamp used to unscrew an oil filter off your car.

The air escape issue seems the bigger problem because any valve would have to be strong enough during operation and then biodegradable after the collection. Maybe a reusable temporary exhaust valve kit -- like a membrane encircled by plastic ring that could be inserted into the bag near the bottom making a hole and then after filling it could be removed and the hole sealed with some biodegradable tape or if the hole was small enough not be sealed at all. If it was a small hole --about 1"- 1-1/2" diameter it could probably be left open and leaves wouldn't come out.

Your idea of using a Blower/Vac to fill up a paper or plastic bag has become a reality. You can look at a video clip at www.powerbagtv.com or at wwww.ecosafepowerbag.com

These PowerBags are also available in a biodegradable plastic material.