With the gift giving season approaching, There has been a lot of talk around in the media about gift wrap not being biodegradable once you throw it in the recycling bin once the big day is over.

This all comes down to the type of paper stock it’s printed on and any coatings that have been added.

For example the thin shiny cheap type you often buy in rolls, often will not decompose. If they have heavy sections of glitters, decorative coatings or a shiny thin surface, then these coatings will effect if the paper will decompose or not. It also is determined by what type of material the gift wrap is printed on in the first place.

Here at Bespoke Letterpress we offer two kinds of gift wrap - both which are 100% recyclable:

Our double gift wrap, is made with 100% recycled heavy weight paper made from 75% post consumer & 25% pre consumer waste. Manufactured without the addition of optical brighteners, and uses chlorine free pulps; thereby helping to reduce harmful by-products in its manufacturing.

This gift wrap printing is done in Sydney, and during our printing process we don’t add any gloss coatings or nasties, meaning that our gift wrap is simply healthy paper, with healthy inks, and nothing more, meaning it will breakdown back to nature as it was first intended.

Our gift wrap rolls, like wise are printed on recycled paper, which is 100% recyclable, biodegradable and it’s not only beautiful but goes against the gift wrap roll norms and offers an eco friendly choice!

Now one of this biggest questions we get asked is what about the foil on your paper - our foil coatings are exceptionally thin and easily dissipate during the repulping process. What's more, our foil is fully compostable, challenging the common misconception that foil can't be recycled.. While foil combined with plastic coating on the stock (which is very common in most gift wrap rolls and cheaper stationery options) is not biodegradable, we're proud to be free from such plastic coatings on our beautiful paper stocks.

This is also true for all our greeting cards and tags. So you can confidently put our paper in the recycling bin, or break it up and put it in your compost bin, or bury it in your garden beds, and let nature biodegrade it back to nature.

If unsure when buying gift wrap, try to feel it first. If it feels raw and papery chances are it’s the good choice. If it feels smooth, shiny, plastically or flimsy, that’s the type to avoid. 🌱