How to Recycle Mailing Bags and Plastic Shipping Bags in the UK

If you've been receiving parcels regularly or sending them out as a seller, you'll know how quickly mailing bags and plastic shipping bags accumulate. They're lightweight, practical and cheap to buy, but figuring out what to do with them once they've done their job is less straightforward than it should be.

This guide covers how to recycle plastic mailing bags and shipping bags in the UK, what you can and can't put in your kerbside bin, where to take soft plastics for recycling, and what to look for if you want to switch to more sustainable packaging options.

Can you put mailing bags in your household recycling bin?

In most cases, no. Standard polythene mailing bags are a soft plastic, also described as a flexible plastic or plastic film. Most kerbside recycling collections in the UK do not currently accept soft plastics because they cause problems in sorting machinery at recycling centres. They wrap around conveyor belts, get tangled in separation equipment, and generally cause more disruption than they're worth to process alongside rigid plastics, cardboard and glass.

Putting a mailing bag in your household recycling bin does not get it recycled. In most areas it either gets manually removed and sent to general waste, or it contaminates the rest of the material in the recycling load.

The good news is that this is changing, but it hasn't fully arrived yet.

What is changing with plastic recycling in the UK?

The government's Simpler Recycling programme is gradually standardising what gets collected at the kerbside across England. The first phase, which came into effect in March 2026, standardised dry recycling collections. The next significant change is that all local authorities in England will be required to collect flexible plastics, including plastic bags and films, at the kerbside by 31 March 2027.

This means that within the next year or so, soft plastics including mailing bags, poly mailers and plastic shipping bags should be collectable from most homes in England via the kerbside recycling bin. Some councils are already running trials and early rollouts ahead of the deadline. Whether your local authority has started collecting flexible plastics at the kerbside depends on where you live, so it's worth checking with your council directly.

Until that service is available in your area, supermarket drop-off points remain the most accessible option for most households.

How to recycle plastic mailing bags at supermarkets

Most major UK supermarkets have soft plastics collection points, usually located near the entrance or exit of the store. These are available at Tesco, Sainsbury's, The Co-operative, Asda, Morrisons and Waitrose in many towns and cities. The bags you drop off are collected and sent to specialist recycling facilities rather than general waste.

Standard polythene mailing bags made from low-density polyethylene (LDPE) are accepted at these collection points. Before dropping anything off, check the bag for a recycling label that reads "Recycle with bags at larger stores, not at kerbside." If your mailing bag carries that label and is clean and dry, it can go in the supermarket collection point.

A few things to keep in mind:

• The bag needs to be clean and dry. Any residue from the parcel contents, particularly anything oily or food-based, can contaminate the collected material and make it unsuitable for recycling.
• Remove any paper labels, address labels or tape before recycling the bag if possible. Labels and adhesive tape are different materials and complicate the recycling process.
• Biodegradable and compostable bags are generally not accepted at these collection points. They require a different disposal process and should not be mixed with standard soft plastics.

If you're unsure whether a specific bag is accepted, the RecycleNow website has a locator tool where you can enter your postcode to find the nearest collection point and check what materials they accept.

How to recycle Amazon shipping bags and courier mailers

Amazon's grey poly mailers and the plastic bags used by couriers like Evri, DPD and Royal Mail are made from the same LDPE as standard mailing bags. The same rules apply: they cannot go in the kerbside recycling bin in most areas, but they can go to a supermarket soft plastics collection point once they're clean and dry.

If you receive a lot of parcels and the bags are piling up, collecting them in one place and taking them in a batch on your next supermarket trip is the most practical approach. You don't need to make a special journey every time one arrives.

How to recycle parcel packaging more broadly

Mailing bags are one part of parcel packaging. Here's a quick guide to the other materials that commonly arrive with deliveries:

• Cardboard boxes: fully recyclable at kerbside in virtually all UK areas. Break them flat and remove any tape before putting them in the recycling bin.
• Bubble wrap: a soft plastic, treated the same way as mailing bags. Cannot go in the kerbside bin in most areas. Take to a supermarket soft plastics collection point.
• Paper packaging and tissue paper: generally recyclable at kerbside, but check that there is no plastic coating or lamination first.
• Plastic air cushions (the inflatable pillows used as void fill): also a soft plastic. Deflate them first and take them to a supermarket collection point.
• Polystyrene: not widely recyclable at kerbside. Some household recycling centres accept it, but many do not. Check with your local council.

Sustainable alternatives to standard plastic mailing bags

If you're sending parcels regularly as a business or seller and want to reduce your packaging's environmental impact, there are a few alternative options worth knowing about.

Recycled polythene mailing bags

Some packaging suppliers, including Mr Bags, stock mailing bags made from recycled polythene rather than virgin plastic. These have the same functional properties as standard bags but use material that has already been through one lifecycle. They are still a soft plastic at end of life and need to be recycled via the same routes as standard bags, but the production impact is lower.

Compostable mailing bags

Compostable mailing bags are made from plant-based materials rather than fossil-fuel-derived plastics. They break down under the right composting conditions rather than persisting in the environment. The important caveat is that they require industrial composting conditions to break down properly. Most home compost heaps do not get hot enough. Compostable bags should go to an industrial composting facility, not a standard household compost bin.

It is also worth noting, as mentioned above, that compostable bags cannot be recycled via the soft plastics route. They need to be kept separate from standard polythene bags to avoid contaminating the recycling stream.

Paper mailing bags

Paper-based mailing bags or padded paper mailers are an alternative for lighter, less moisture-sensitive items. They are recyclable at kerbside alongside cardboard and paper. The tradeoff is that they offer less water resistance than polythene, which can be a problem for items passing through the postal system in wet conditions.

You can browse our full range of mailing bags to see the current options available, including any recyclable or sustainable alternatives we stock. If you're a business looking to reduce the environmental footprint of your packaging supply, get in touch and we can talk through what's available.

What about the plastic packaging regulations in the UK?

Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for packaging came into effect in the UK, meaning that businesses which put packaging onto the market now have a financial responsibility for its end-of-life management. This applies to packaging suppliers as well as the businesses that use packaging to ship products.

For individual sellers on platforms like Vinted, eBay or Depop, EPR obligations are unlikely to apply directly at the volumes most casual sellers operate at. For businesses sending significant volumes of parcels, it is worth understanding your obligations under the scheme. The government's packaging waste regulations guidance covers the thresholds and requirements in detail.

Separately, the Simpler Recycling programme's kerbside flexible plastics requirement coming in March 2027 will make it considerably easier for everyone to recycle mailing bags and plastic shipping bags from home. That is a meaningful change for the better, even if the current situation is more complicated than it should be.

The practical summary

Until kerbside flexible plastics collections are available in your area, the right way to recycle plastic mailing bags and shipping bags in the UK is via supermarket soft plastics collection points. Clean the bags, remove any labels where you can, and drop them off at your nearest store that operates a collection point.

From March 2027, most households in England should be able to put mailing bags and other soft plastics in their kerbside recycling bin alongside other dry recyclables. Check with your local council as that date approaches to confirm what they will be accepting.

If you want to get ahead of this now, switching to mailing bags made from recycled polythene, or to compostable alternatives for appropriate items, is a practical way to reduce the impact of your packaging without waiting for the recycling infrastructure to catch up.