Eco & Sustainable Packaging · MOQ 500 pcs
A carrier bag in recycled paper with twisted paper handles — so the handle, the body and the print all go into the same bin.
Overview
Two decisions separate a recycled bag from a conventional one. The first is the paper: recycled fibre carries a visible fleck and a warmer, greyer cast than virgin stock, and no amount of print hides that. The second is the handle, and this is where most ‘recyclable’ carrier bags quietly fail — a cotton rope or a satin ribbon handle has to be cut off by the customer before the bag can be recycled, and almost nobody does.
This bag uses twisted paper handles and a water-based print with no film laminate, so the whole bag is one material. The cost of that is strength and finish: recycled paper has a lower tear resistance than virgin kraft, and an unlaminated handle feels softer in the hand. For heavy or luxury retail, that trade may not be worth it, and we would rather say so now.
Specification
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Body | Recycled kraft paper, typically 120–180 gsm, flecked finish |
| Handles | Twisted paper, glued and folded into the top turn-over |
| Water-based ink, one to four colours; no film lamination | |
| Recycled content | GRS chain-of-custody available on request, stated per order |
| Sizes | Cut to order; common briefs run from a small gift bag to a large carrier |
| Base | Block bottom or satchel bottom, with or without a card insert |
| MOQ | 500 pcs per size and per print |
| Lead time | 12–18 days after sample approval, before transit |
| Price basis | Indicative $0.10–0.50 per piece at 500 pcs, ex-works |
Variants
Higher recycled content lowers the virgin fibre input and usually raises the cost and lowers the tear strength. Tell us the percentage you need to publish and we will quote to that number rather than to a default.
Twisted paper keeps the bag single-material. Cotton rope and satin ribbon look richer and are the parts that break the recycling claim — we quote both, with the difference stated.
A card insert in the turn-over makes a paper-handled bag feel much closer to a rope bag, at a small cost in weight and a small loss in recyclability simplicity.
Materials
| Option | What it means |
|---|---|
| Recycled kraft paper | Lower virgin fibre demand and a visibly recycled surface. The fleck is the material telling the truth about itself. |
| Twisted paper handle | The handle most carrier bags should use and most do not, because paper handles are weaker than rope and do not photograph as luxuriously. |
| Water-based ink | Sits in the fibre rather than on a film, so print and paper are recovered together. |
Best for
Where the bag is carried on foot and then reused at home.
Where a recycled surface is part of the brand position rather than a compromise.
One-off runs where a bag that is obviously recycled does the talking.
A bag inside a delivery that the customer keeps rather than binning immediately.
Free quote
Send the basics and you will get an itemised price plus a 3D mockup with your branding.
What you get
Reply within one business day. No obligation, and no design files needed to start.
FAQ
Recycled content is easy to claim and harder to evidence, so here is the short version.
Keep looking
Uncoated kraft with a single-colour print and a flat tape, twisted paper or die-cut handle. Constant demand from takeaway, grocery and give-away programmes and the most price-competitive corner of the paper bag market, quoted honestly as the commodity it is.
The default printed tote: 10oz cotton canvas, sized to your product, with the handle and print method chosen around how much weight it has to carry. This is the spec most brand retail and event programmes land on, and the point in the range where the extra fabric starts buying something a customer can feel.
The reusable bag made from recovered cotton instead of virgin fibre, left undyed and unbleached. The environmental argument for a tote is use count, so the build is aimed at surviving a few hundred trips.
Get a free quote
Tell us the product, the quantity and the destination. You will get an itemised factory-direct price, a recommended structure and a 3D mockup — no design files needed to start.
Free quote
Two minutes to fill in. No design files needed to start.