As consumers and businesses alike grow more conscious of their impact on the environment, many people are renewing their commitment to recycling. Recycling is an easy way to keep waste out of landfills, and studies show that it really does help to preserve our environment.
All kinds of plastic goods, including plastic bottles, are recyclable. So, what about everyone’s favorite soft plastic packaging material: bubble wrap? It protects valuable goods from electronics to fine china, and yes, it’s quite fun to pop too. But can you recycle bubble wrap?
Bubble wrap can indeed be recycled. However, don’t take that bubble wrap to your curbside bin just yet. There are some important facts that you need to know first.
What Is Bubble Wrap Made From?
To understand why bubble wrap is a little more complicated to recycle, let’s quickly examine what it’s made from. Most bubble wrap is made from a thin, soft plastic called #4 low-density polyethylene film. It’s the same material plastic shopping bags are made from. This material is great at protecting and transporting items because it’s simultaneously flexible and relatively strong.
Bubble Wrap Bags Keep Your Materials Safe During Delivery
However, those very qualities make plastic films such as LDPE film notoriously difficult to recycle. Their high tensile strength causes them to get caught and tangled in the machinery of recycling facilities, which can damage equipment and even cause worker injuries. Because of this, almost all recycling programs prohibit bubble wrap in standard curbside recycling bins.
That’s because your recycling program is probably a single stream recycling program. Single stream programs allow all of the common forms of recyclables, paper, glass and cardboard to be placed in a single bin rather than requiring them to be pre-sorted before collection.
How to Recycle Bubble Wrap
First, we should specify how not to recycle bubble wrap: Do not put it in a normal curbside recycling bin. This will contaminate your recycling stream and cause everything in your recycling bin to be sent to a landfill. You may even get a fine from your city or town.
To recycle bubble wrap, you’ll need to find a plastic film recycling drop-off point. The American Chemistry Council’s Plastic Film Recycling program maintains hundreds of plastic film recycling drop-off points, often conveniently located near large shopping centers or grocery stores.
It’s important to note that if you want to recycle paper mailers that are lined with bubble wrap, you’ll need to disassemble them first to separate the two components into their correct recycling streams. Remove the interior bubble wrap and dispose of it at a plastic film recycling drop-off and then take the paper envelope and include it with your normal recyclables.
Bubble wrap isn’t like a plastic bottle, so don’t try to recycle it like one.
Reusing Bubble Wrap
Often, reusing bubble wrap is an easier and more economical solution than recycling it. Bubble wrap used to ship goods can almost always be used again unless it’s suffered significant damage. When unpacking bubble-wrapped goods, check the condition of the sealed air bubbles. If most or all of them are intact, your bubble wrap is safe to use again.
Browse Our Entire Collection of Eco-Friendly PackagingThere are plenty of things you can do with used bubble wrap, thanks to its outstanding insulating and cushioning properties. A few ideas for how to use bubble wrap again include:
- Reuse it as a packaging material for shipping your goods.
- Cushion breakable items in storage at your facility.
- Pack fragile items such as china when moving.
- Insulate drafty windows during the winter.
- Protect sensitive plants from cold weather.
- Use as a knee pad when gardening or doing other work that requires extended kneeling.
- Line your crisper drawer to prevent bruising on fruits and vegetables.
Bubble wrap is one of the most popular packaging materials we offer at Air Sea Containers. Our jumbo-sized bubble wrap rolls are a cost-effective way to get all of the bubble wrap you need in a convenient package, and our bubble wrap bags are ideal for mailing individual fragile items.
Air Sea Containers’ selection of packaging materials is second to none, from bubble wrap to dunnage air bags. Need more information or help choosing your shipping and packaging solutions? Feel free to call us at (866) 596-9448 or contact us online—our friendly staff will be happy to help.
