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Soft Plastic Recycling
Soft Plastic Recycling
We are often asked about the best ways to reuse, or recycle, plastic packaging. Reusing an item can be fairly straight forward, but recycling some plastics can be difficult.
The rules around recycling can vary depending on where you live in the county. This isn’t ideal, but some supermarkets have stepped up to the plate to help, especially around soft plastic recycling. This guide is for general advice – you should always check with your local council if you’re unsure of how to recycle something.
So, what is a soft plastic?
By nature, it’s anything that is made of plastic, that isn’t rigid. Think about a packet of fruit you buy at the supermarket. The ‘lid’ is soft, and you generally peel it to open the packet. This is a soft plastic. The actual pack, or punnet, is rigid, and this would go into your regular plastic recycling stream.
Bread bags, crisp packets and sweet wrappers are all soft plastics too. Our ranges of pallet wrap, and air cushions are soft plastics, as is our bubblewrap, so they can all enter the same recycling stream as a bread bag.
Where can I recycle my soft plastics?
It is always worth checking the recycling rules with your local Council, but lots of major supermarkets allow you to drop off your soft plastics to be taken away for recycling.
Tesco currently does this in all of their larger stores, and this would be the recycling stream we would recommend you look into.
Soft plastic recycling really shouldn’t be limited to supermarkets, but at present, that’s one of the main recycling streams. As mentioned above, you should speak with your Council first, to work out the best place to recycle your soft plastics.
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Author: Simon Rees
Springpack is a UK packaging company delivering sustainable solutions that empower customers. We prioritise exceptional service, building strong relationships and developing innovative packaging solutions tailored to unique needs. Sustainability drives us, from eco-friendly materials to reusable practices minimising waste and emissions. As a family-run business, we’ve grown from humble beginnings to industry forerunners. Our passion lies in making a positive impact in our community and the lives of customers, employees, and stakeholders through outstanding service that exceeds expectations.