Air Pockets
Bubble bag, Shipping air bags, Air cushion, Air cushion pillow, Air pillow packaging, Air bags, Air packets, Air column, Air wrap, Packaging Air Bags, Plastic air
Recyclable?
Blue Bins & Chutes
Other Recycling
Recommended
Trash
These cannot be recycled.
See info below on why these are not recycled.
Alternative
Freecycle / Give Away
Sometimes small/home based businessses can reuse these. Check Package Pals Resource Matching Sheet.
Package Pals
Alternative
Tips & Suggestions
It is possible to snip off one end and reuse as a small bag. Useful for small items of wet waste.
Info & Insights
Air pockets can be made out of a variety of materials (typically LDPE, HDPE or PLA) making plastic identification difficult if not impossible at the sorting plant. It is also low grade material which has little value to recyclers.
So while most air pockets are technically recyclable under certain conditions (eg a producer take back scheme where the material composition is known) they cannot be recycled in practice.
