Packaging recycling
How to Recycle Bubble Mailers (Plastic)
Plastic bubble mailers and similar flexible plastic shipping padding. Not accepted in curbside recycling anywhere in the US; instead recyclable through the same retail store drop-off network used for plastic bags and film.
RecyclableFILMUpdated Jul 2026
Quick answer
Not in curbside recycling. Plastic bubble mailers are flexible film that tangles sorting equipment at recycling facilities, the same reason grocery bags aren't curbside-recyclable. Instead, take clean, all-plastic bubble mailers to a store drop-off bin - there are more than 20,000 nationwide at over 60 retail partners, and 'mailer bags' and 'bubble wrap' are explicitly on the accepted list. Paper-and-bubble hybrid mailers usually have to be trashed unless you can separate the layers.
- Recyclable
- Yes
- Recycling code
- FILM
How to Prepare
- 1Remove paper shipping labels and any paper insert if possible
- 2Deflate the air pockets so it packs flat
- 3
