A Green Family
holidaysrecyclinggift wrapwastekids

The Scrunch Test: Which Wrapping Paper Can Actually Go in the Recycling Bin

A five-second test tells you whether your wrapping paper belongs in the recycling bin or the trash. Here's how it works, what fails, and the swaps our family uses instead.

By A Green Family ·
Small hands scrunching brown kraft wrapping paper into a ball next to a crumpled sheet of shiny gold foil paper that has sprung back open.

Disclosure: This article includes affiliate links. If you buy through them, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. We only share things we use ourselves or would honestly point a friend to. The article comes first, always.

Every year, the morning after the gifts are opened, our living room looks the same: a mountain of paper, a tangle of ribbon, and someone asking, “Does this go in the blue bin?”

For a long time, our answer was “probably.” It turns out that’s the wrong answer for a lot of what ends up on the floor. Much of the wrapping paper sold in stores isn’t really just paper. And once it lands in the recycling bin, it can cause more trouble than it’s worth.

We learned this one from our kids. When they were little, around four and seven, they turned cleanup into a game: who could make the biggest paper snowball. The plain paper balled up perfectly. But the shiny gold paper from one of the gifts kept popping back open, no matter how hard they squeezed. “This one’s broken,” our younger one announced. Our daughter decided it must be “made of plastic.” She was right, and we didn’t know it yet.

The good news is that there’s a simple way to sort it, and it takes about five seconds.

How the Scrunch Test Works

Grab a piece of wrapping paper and squeeze it into a ball in your hand.

  • If it stays scrunched, it’s paper, and in most places it can go in your recycling bin.
  • If it springs back open, it likely has plastic or foil mixed in, and it belongs in the trash.

That’s it. Recycling programs on both sides of the Atlantic promote this test because anyone can do it, and it doesn’t require reading tiny print on the roll. It’s also a fun job to hand to the kids during cleanup.

What Fails the Test

Foil and metallic wrap. That mirror-like shine usually comes from a thin layer of metal or plastic bonded to the paper, and paper mills can’t easily separate it. Seattle Public Utilities, for example, asks residents to put metallic foil wrap, along with “flocked,” velvety-feeling paper, in the garbage.

Glitter. Glitter is tiny plastic, and it sticks to everything. When paper gets turned into pulp for recycling, glitter doesn’t dissolve. It can contaminate an entire batch. If it sparkles, it goes in the trash.

Ribbons and bows. Most are made of polyester or nylon. They’re not recyclable, and they tangle in sorting machines. The fix is easy: pull them off and save them for next year. Ours live in a shoebox that comes out every December.

Paper that’s mostly tape. A little tape is usually fine, but a sheet that’s more tape than paper isn’t. Pull off the big pieces before you recycle.

What Passes

  • Plain, uncoated wrapping paper (even slightly shiny paper can pass if it scrunches)
  • Brown kraft paper
  • Newspaper and paper grocery bags
  • Cardboard gift boxes, flattened

One important caveat: rules vary by city. Seattle accepts most wrapping paper and even tissue paper, but some programs elsewhere don’t take wrapping paper at all. If you’re not sure, check your local hauler’s website. (Our recycling bin article has more on why “wish-cycling” does more harm than good.)

The Swaps We Like Best

The easiest wrap to recycle is the wrap you never buy. A few ideas that work for our family:

  • Reuse gift bags. They come back around every year.
  • Fabric wrap. A scarf, tea towel, or square of fabric (the Japanese furoshiki style) becomes part of the gift.
  • Kids’ artwork. Big drawings and painting-day leftovers make wrap that grandparents actually want to keep.
  • The comics page or old maps. Colorful, free, and recyclable.
  • Plain kraft paper plus twine. It looks great, passes the scrunch test, and you can dress it up with a sprig of evergreen from the yard.

Wrapping paper is a small thing, but it shows up in nearly every home at the same time of year. A five-second squeeze is an easy place to start, and if you have kids, they’ll probably beat you to it.

Sources

← Back to all articles