Recycled Paper Bags.

Post-consumer content is fibre that has already been used as paper or board, thrown out, and collected back for pulping. Pre-consumer content means trimmings and offcuts from the mill floor that never reached a customer. Buyers and retail sustainability teams ask for the PCW figure specifically.

We quote each recycled sheet by its PCW percentage, so the number printed on your bag describes the paper actually in it.

We run the sheet at 40, 70 and 100 percent post-consumer content. The 40 and 70 percent blends keep some virgin fibre in the mix for tear strength, so they suit heavier retail loads. The 100 percent sheet carries the strongest claim and is our flagship recycled grade.

All three come in recycled grades if you want recycled content on the bag.

A little, because recycled fibres are shorter and don't bond as tightly as new ones. We compensate by moving up to a sheet roughly ten percent heavier than we would use in virgin kraft for the same load. That brings the handle patch and the base back to the strength you'd expect.

The reinforced bottom stays standard on every recycled build, and for bottles or grocery weight we would pick one of the blended grades over the 100 percent sheet.

Yes, as long as the bag is built uncoated. Plain recycled kraft printed with water-based or soy inks is a genuinely compostable configuration. Matte or gloss lamination adds a film layer, and once that goes on, the compostable claim no longer holds.

If compostability matters to you, we'd keep the face unlaminated and word the mark on the bag carefully, stating exactly which parts of the build qualify.

Design with the visible fibre flecks in mind instead of trying to print over them. Speckle is what tells a shopper the paper is recycled, and a bag that looks too clean can make the claim less believable. One-colour water-based print on the natural sheet is the most common choice, often with the PCW percentage set large as part of the layout.

CMYK, spot UV and foil stamping are all on offer. Heavy flood colour hides the texture, though, so we'd use it sparingly.

Bags are measured width by gusset by height, taken on the finished bag with the gusset folded flat. The recycled sheet is available in every construction and size we make, so the dimensions follow what you're packing. Tell us the largest item and the heaviest load and we will size the bag from both.

Our design team draws the dieline for a custom size free of charge.

The minimum order is 500 bags, whichever PCW percentage you choose. That means a first run can go straight to 100 percent recycled kraft without a large commitment. At the other end we produce runs of up to 100,000 bags.

If you're torn between two recycled grades, order a sample of each before settling the bulk quantity.

Production runs 7 to 10 business days from artwork sign-off. When a launch date can't move, rush production cuts that to 5 to 7 business days. A physical sample can be made first in 5 to 7 business days, and whatever you pay for it is credited against the production order.

Finished bags ship to any address in the USA.