These are not two grades of the same thing. They are different materials that fail and succeed in different places, and the marketing around both is unusually poor.

Recycled film

Polyethylene made partly or wholly from post-consumer waste, typically 30 to 100 per cent. In use it behaves identically to virgin film — the same strength, the same print quality — and it enters exactly the same recycling stream at the end.

Its advantage is real and unglamorous: it diverts existing waste and reduces virgin plastic production. It does not disappear at the end of its life.

Compostable film

A genuinely different material designed to break down in an industrial composting facility — sustained heat, moisture and time. Under those conditions it works exactly as advertised.

In landfill it does not meaningfully break down, and in a plastic recycling stream it is a contaminant. Its entire value depends on where it ends up.

So which one?

Do your customers have access to industrial composting? If yes, compostable is genuinely the better choice and you should say so on the bag. If no, a compostable bag goes to landfill and performs no better than plastic, and recycled film is the honest option.

That is the whole decision, and it is about infrastructure rather than intent.

What we will and will not print

We apply certification marks correctly and we will state recycled content accurately. We will not help print an unsupported environmental claim — those age badly, and regulators are increasingly interested in them.

If you want the bag to say something true and useful, tell us which material you are on and we will help you word it.