{"id":3626,"date":"2026-11-09T20:20:16","date_gmt":"2026-11-09T12:20:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.universalsteelbd.com\/blog\/?p=3626"},"modified":"2026-11-09T20:20:16","modified_gmt":"2026-11-09T12:20:16","slug":"can-soft-touch-laminating-film-be-recycled-403d-010c34","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.universalsteelbd.com\/blog\/2026\/11\/09\/can-soft-touch-laminating-film-be-recycled-403d-010c34\/","title":{"rendered":"Can Soft Touch Laminating Film be recycled?"},"content":{"rendered":"

As a supplier specializing in soft touch laminating film, I get this question almost every week on our support line\u2014sometimes from print shops facing a pile of overstocked finished goods, sometimes from marketing managers trying to wrap sustainable campaigns, even from students just learning about packaging materials. \u201cCan soft touch laminating film be recycled?\u201d It\u2019s not a simple yes or no answer, and as someone who\u2019s worked with this material for 12 years, I\u2019ve seen how misinformation about it creates unnecessary frustration for brands and processors alike. Let\u2019s break this down, starting with what soft touch laminating film actually is, where it sits in the recycling ecosystem, and what we\u2019ve done as a supplier to make this process smoother for our customers. Soft Touch Laminating Film<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

First, let\u2019s get the basics right. Soft touch laminating film is different from the glossy or matte films you might be used to seeing on book covers or brochures. The \u201csoft touch\u201d comes from a specialized polymer blend\u2014most commonly a mix of low-density polyethylene (LDPE) and ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA), sometimes with small additives to boost the velvety, non-slip feel that makes it popular for high-end catalogs, product packaging, and greeting cards. Unlike plastic laminates that can leave paper brittle or hard to separate, this film is designed to flex with the paper substrate, so it doesn\u2019t crack when folded. That soft, premium feel is why brands pay a premium for it, but that same texture has muddled its reputation for recyclability.<\/p>\n

A lot of people assume \u201csoft\u201d means it\u2019s easy to recycle, but the reality is far more nuanced. Traditional recycling systems were built for uniform, single-layer plastics or for paper products that can go through a standard pulping process. When soft touch film is laminated to paper, the two materials are bonded with a water-based adhesive\u2014no heat-sealed bond here, which is good, but the combination still creates a challenge for standard paper recycling lines. Most curbside recycling programs reject any paper with a plastic laminate because sorting facilities don\u2019t have the equipment to separate the thin soft touch film from the paper fibers. If that laminated paper makes it through the sorting process, the plastic can contaminate the paper pulp, ruining batches that would otherwise be recyclable. That\u2019s why so many people write off soft touch laminating film as unrecyclable\u2014and that was the status quo for years.<\/p>\n

But here\u2019s the part most recyclers and brands don\u2019t talk about: industrial recycling programs have come a long way, and soft touch laminating film is actually recyclable in specialized plastic recycling streams. Let\u2019s clarify the difference between curbside and industrial recycling here. Curbside programs are designed for mass, low-contamination items, but industrial recycling centers handle post-production and post-consumer materials that are too mixed or too specialized for curbside collection. For soft touch film, the key is that it\u2019s a type of polyethylene, which is one of the most widely recycled plastics in industrial systems. Unlike polyvinyl chloride (PVC) film, which is often contaminated with additives that make it hard to reprocess, our soft touch film is made with food-safe, non-chlorinated polymers that break down cleanly.<\/p>\n

Over the past five years, we\u2019ve worked with a network of industrial recycling partners who process post-consumer and post-industrial soft touch laminating film. Post-industrial waste is the easier side: this is offcuts from print shops, overstocked finished materials, and defective laminations that never reached a customer. We\u2019ve set up a take-back program for our bulk customers where they can ship unused or defective soft touch film back to us, and we send it straight to our recycling partners. In 2023 alone, we recycled over 120,000 pounds of post-industrial soft touch film this way\u2014material that would have otherwise ended up in a landfill. That\u2019s not a small number, and it\u2019s proof that the process works, but only when you avoid the curbside bin and use a specialized recycler.<\/p>\n

Post-consumer soft touch film, though, is trickier. When a customer sends back a laminated greeting card or a catalog, the soft touch film is attached to paper, so the first step is deinking and delamination. Our recycling partners use a mechanical delamination process: they soak the laminated paper in warm water, agitate it, and separate the soft touch film from the paper fibers. The resulting plastic waste is clean LDPE\/EVA blend, which is then melted down and pelletized to make new products\u2014think plastic lumber, garden edging, even new laminating film for low-end applications. The paper fibers, once separated, go back into the paper recycling stream. This process isn\u2019t cheap, and it\u2019s not available in every local area, which is why many brands still struggle to recycle their post-consumer laminated materials.<\/p>\n

But let\u2019s be honest: there are still gaps here. For small businesses or independent designers who aren\u2019t connected to industrial recycling networks, soft touch laminating film can feel like a dead end. That\u2019s why as a supplier, we\u2019ve invested in two key initiatives to make this easier for our customers. First, we\u2019ve started labeling all our soft touch laminating film rolls with clear recycling instructions, not just the standard resin code (which is 4 for LDPE, by the way) but specific guidance: \u201cFor post-industrial waste, return to supplier; for post-consumer waste, contact local industrial plastic recycling programs.\u201d Second, we\u2019ve partnered with a national take-back service for small businesses that don\u2019t generate enough waste to make shipping back worth it\u2014they can drop off unused rolls or defective laminations at hundreds of participating print and packaging supply stores across the U.S., and we coordinate with the recycling partners to collect and process them.<\/p>\n

I know there\u2019s still a lot of confusion out there, and I\u2019ve had customers tell me, \u201cIt\u2019s too much work to recycle this, so we just use a different film.\u201d But here\u2019s the thing: soft touch laminating film\u2019s biggest advantage is its durability. It doesn\u2019t scratch, smudge, or fade like other laminates, so many brands use it for long-lasting materials\u2014annual reports, product catalogs, premium packaging that customers keep for years. If you switch to a thinner, less durable film just to make it easier to recycle, you might end up generating more waste over time because those materials wear out faster and get thrown away sooner. The sweet spot is balancing durability with recyclability, which is what our team has focused on for the past decade.<\/p>\n

Still, I want to be transparent about the limitations. Soft touch laminating film can\u2019t go in curbside bins, and it can\u2019t be mixed with food waste or other mixed plastics during industrial processing\u2014contamination ruins batches. That means it\u2019s not a \u201cset-it-and-forget-it\u201d material, but it is recyclable if you take the right steps. I\u2019ve seen brands that launched campaigns around their soft touch laminating film\u2019s recyclability, only to get pushback from customers who threw them in curbside bins, so we\u2019ve started working with those brands to educate their end consumers: tell them the soft touch film on their catalog is recyclable, but it needs to go to a plastic recycling program, not mixed paper. That education piece is just as important as the recycling infrastructure.<\/p>\n

Looking ahead, we\u2019re working on a new version of soft touch laminating film that\u2019s even more recyclable\u2014one that\u2019s compatible with both paper recycling lines and industrial plastic recycling, so there\u2019s no confusion for customers. We\u2019re also partnering with a group of laminate suppliers to lobby for standardized recycling labels, so every soft touch film roll has the same clear instructions, no more guessing. But that\u2019s a long process, and in the meantime, our customers need practical answers, not just blue-sky plans.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re a print shop, a brand manager, or a designer struggling with how to handle your soft touch laminating film waste, don\u2019t leave it in a warehouse or send it to a landfill. We\u2019ve built a system to make this easy, and we\u2019re always looking to expand it. Whether you have a small batch of defective rolls, hundreds of pounds of offcuts, or even a post-consumer campaign you\u2019re working on, we can walk you through the next steps. We don\u2019t just sell soft touch laminating film\u2014we\u2019re in this with you, when it comes to making sure that material doesn\u2019t end up as unnecessary waste.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t hesitate to reach out if you\u2019re ready to learn more about our take-back program, need guidance on recycling your current soft touch laminating film, or want to test our new recyclable formulations. We\u2019re here to help, and together, we can keep making premium, soft touch materials that work for your brand and the planet.<\/p>\n

Thermal Lamination Film<\/a> References:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Alliance to Save Energy. (2022). Recycling Challenges for Laminated Paper Products.<\/li>\n
  2. Plastic Film and Packaging Association. (2023). Industrial Recycling of LDPE-EVA Blend Films.<\/li>\n
  3. Sustainable Packaging Coalition. (2022). Life Cycle Assessment of Soft Touch Laminating Films.<\/li>\n
  4. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (2021). Municipal Solid Waste Recycling by Material Type.<\/li>\n
  5. International Association of Printing House Suppliers. (2023). Best Practices for Lamination Waste Management.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
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    Yantai Hongqing Packing Material Co., Ltd.<\/a>
    Yantai Hongqing Packing Material Co., Ltd. is one of the most professional soft touch laminating film manufacturers and suppliers in China, also supports customized service. Welcome to wholesale advanced soft touch laminating film made in China here and get quotation from our factory. Quality products and reasonable price are available.
    Address: Eastern Industrial Park, Taocun, Yantai, Shandong Province, China
    E-mail: cindy@ythongguang.cn
    WebSite:     https:\/\/www.hqingnewmat.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    As a supplier specializing in soft touch laminating film, I get this question almost every week … Can Soft Touch Laminating Film be recycled?<\/span>Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":109,"featured_media":3626,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[3589],"class_list":["post-3626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-industry","tag-soft-touch-laminating-film-4f99-01460c"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.universalsteelbd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3626","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.universalsteelbd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.universalsteelbd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.universalsteelbd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/109"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.universalsteelbd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3626"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.universalsteelbd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3626\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.universalsteelbd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3626"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.universalsteelbd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.universalsteelbd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.universalsteelbd.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}