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Recycling
What is Recyclable
Plastic film – also known as plastic film packaging or PE film – is the wrap around many household products including paper plates, napkins, bathroom tissue, diapers, and more. It is also commonly used in e-commerce packaging like air pillows, bubble wrap, and poly mailers. All of these materials can be recycled through in-store drop-off programs.
Multi-material flexible films contain different layers of materials (paper, plastic, film, foil, metallized or coated paper). These carefully engineered materials provide many of the properties that consumers and businesses love – adding durability, product safety, extending product life – but their construction also makes it more difficult to recycle. Multi-materials can be beneficially reused through a waste to energy facility. This approach is used extensively in countries like Japan, but is not yet widespread in the U.S.
How and Where to Recycle Plastic Film
To recycle your plastic film, first make sure that it is clean (e.g., no food residue) and dry. Then, take it to your nearest drop-off location to be collected for recycling. There are more than 18,000 locations across the U.S. and Canada, including many grocery stores. Sometimes recycling your plastic film is as easy as taking it with you on your next trip to the grocery store!
Find a drop off location near you to recycle your plastic bags, wraps and film!
Get the Family Involved
We’ve all become familiar with ♻️ recycling bins used to collect rigid plastic, glass, metal, cardboard, etc. In addition to collecting your curbside recycling, setup a bag or box to easily collect your plastic film.
Downloadable Resources
What Happens to Recycled Plastic Film?
Plastic film can be upcycled into many useful products and be used to make composite lumber for making decks, benches, and playground sets. Plastic film can also be reprocessed into small pellets, which can be made into new bags, pallets, containers, crates, and pipe.
Improving Recycling Efforts
Many efforts are underway to overcome recovery and recycling challenges, including public and private collaborative programs that help educate consumers and put new processes in place. Others focus on developing new recycling technologies or more recyclable materials for use in flexible packaging.
MRFF (Materials Recovery for the Future)
The MRFF project is an industry initiative committed to advancing auto-sort of flexible packaging at materials recovery facilities (MRFs). Learn more >>
How2Recycle
How2Recycle on-package labels provide consumers with instructions on which flexible packaging components can be recycled and how. Explore labels and learn more. >>
WRAP (Wrap Recycling Action Program)
A store-off program that allows consumers to recycle flexible packaging that is made from polyethylene (PE) including wraps, bags, and flexible packaging. Learn more >>
Hefty® EnergyBag®
This program diverts flexible packaging from landfills and used a proprietary process to convert non-recycled plastics in high-value synthetic crude oil.
See how it works >>
