The difference between recyclable plastic bags and ordinary plastic bags

Many European and American customers require packaging products to use recyclable materials. So, what exactly are recyclable plastic bags? Are ordinary plastic bags the recyclable packaging customers require? What is the difference between recyclable plastic bags and ordinary plastic bags?

I. Differences in Certification between Recyclable Plastic Bags and Ordinary Plastic Bags

1. Ordinary Plastic Bags

Ordinary material is refined from petroleum. Its characteristics are milky white, crystal clear, free of impurities, good physical properties, and easy to process. Ordinary materials cannot be applied for GRS certification, EN15343:2008 certification. Furthermore, from the perspective of resource utilization efficiency and environmental protection, using ordinary materials wastes resources and causes adverse environmental impacts, continuously increasing the stock of plastic on Earth, which is unfavorable to low-carbon trends.

2. Recyclable Plastic Bags

Under the internationally recognized Global Recycled Standard GRS certification, EN15343:2008 certification explicitly state that only pre-consumer recycled polybag (PIR) and post-consumer recycled polybag (PCR) materials are considered recycled content. Certification can only be applied for with more than 20% recycled material content, and printing of certified LOGO labels requires more than 50% recycled material. The 30% recycled, 50% recycled, 100% recycled requested by customers refer to the proportion of recycled material by weight in the product or packaging.

Post-consumer Recycled Material PCR (post-consumer recycled polybag), generated by households or commercial, industrial, and institutional facilities as end-product users. Through processes such as recycling, sorting, cleaning, granulation, film blowing, printing, and bag making, plastic materials and plastic packaging bags continue to be produced. This achieves circular regeneration and reuse, effectively reducing the extraction of new plastic pellets from petroleum. Thus, while meeting human packaging needs, existing plastic materials are repeatedly used and recycled in a continuous cycle, without increasing the Earth's existing plastic stock, reducing energy consumption and pollution from producing plastic pellets, and reducing resource waste and pollution from incinerating plastic bags.

Pre-consumer Recycled Material PIR (pre-consumer recycled polybag), material diverted from the waste stream during the manufacturing process. This excludes the reuse of certain materials such as rework, regrind, or scrap generated in a process and subsequently reused in the same process, i.e., plastic bags recycled without consumer consumption.

Therefore, to meet customer requirements and practice environmental protection, recyclable plastic bags refer to certified plastic bags containing recycled material, not ordinary plastic bags.

Shunxingyuan Packaging's GRS, EN15343:2008 recyclable plastic bags meet customer requirements, achieve internationally recognized environmental standards, are truly recyclable and circularly regenerative plastic bags, and are important products for environmentally friendly packaging.

Shunxingyuan Packaging produces GRS, EN15343:2008 certified recyclable plastic bags have industry advantages such as diverse bag types, transparency, no powder, easy opening, recyclability, and clear and firm printing. Furthermore, Shunxingyuan Packaging's GRS and EN15343 certification certificates cover various recycled material ratios and materials, including 30% RECYCLED, 50% RECYCLED, 70% RECYCLED, 100% RECYCLED, and many other ratios for your choice. We also offer numerous material options such as LDPE, HDPE, PPE, CPE, PP, OPP, EVA, PET, as well as a wide range of bag types including films, adhesive bags, ziplock bags, zipper bags, gusset bags, flat bags, vacuum bags, round wire bags, hook bags, button bags, header bags, paper card bags, hook bags, shrink film, stretch film, etc., to meet different customer requirements for recyclable plastic bags.

II. Differences in Production between Recyclable Plastic Bags and Ordinary Plastic Bags

1. Recyclable plastic bags use dedicated materials for specific purposes. Every batch of recycled raw materials can be traced to which orders they were used for, how much was lost during the process, how much was shipped, and how much is in stock, ensuring a comprehensive mass balance sheet. Ordinary plastic bags do not require such statistics.

2. The inbound and outbound records of raw materials for recyclable plastic bags are separately and clearly registered by the warehouse; ordinary plastic bags do not require such registration.

3. The production of recyclable products at each process has separate, clear daily records; ordinary plastic bags do not require such separate registration.

4. When switching from non-recyclable product production to recyclable product production, machines must be cleaned first before resuming production; ordinary plastic bags do not require such a step.

5. Inbound and outbound records of finished recyclable plastic bags are clearly kept by the warehouse, and relevant records are preserved long-term; ordinary plastic bags do not require record keeping.

6. During circulation through various processes, recyclable plastic bags use dedicated labels, containers, machines, and areas to prevent mixing and contamination with non-recyclable products. Ordinary plastic bags do not require separate containers.