Snacks & Confectionery
Snack and Confectionery Pouches Designed for Recycling
Snack and confectionery bags have to keep products crisp, protect aroma and run on fast filling lines. The laminates that do this well are usually multi-material. They are also hard to put into a recycling stream.
Walter Solutions helps Canadian brands review a move to polyethylene-based flexible packaging. The aim is barrier performance and print quality in a structure designed for PE recycling streams. A finished bag is not automatically accepted in every curbside or store program.
Products we pack
- Potato chips, extruded snacks and pretzels
- Nutrition bars and granola
- Cookies and biscuits
- Chocolate, candy and gummies
- Popcorn and seasoned snacks
- Private-label snack lines
Formats
- Stand-up pouches
- Pillow bags and other rollstock for vertical or horizontal lines
- Flat-bottom bags
- Reclosable zippers, where the format allows it
- Easy-tear openings
What usually drives the structure
- Oxygen and moisture barrier, so crisps stay crisp and chocolate stays stable
- Grease resistance for fried and baked snacks
- Aroma retention for flavoured and confectionery products
- Puncture and drop resistance through distribution
- Seal performance at the line speed you already run
- Shelf appearance: full print, matte, gloss or a transparent window
Packing nuts, seeds or dried fruit? See nut and dried fruit packaging.
Structures
PE/PE is the main option for most dry snacks and confectionery. It is a high-barrier, polyethylene-based structure designed for recycling.
PP/PP Premium costs more. We use it when heat and humidity would make a standard PE structure a poor fit. It is not the default for a chip or candy line.
Barrier, seal strength and shelf life are confirmed on your product, your bag size and your storage conditions. We do not assign a shelf life from the film alone.
What to send
- A current bag, or the structure if you know it
- The product and the main failure you see today: staleness, breakage, aroma loss, grease
- Target shelf life and where it is sold
- Filler type and line speed
- The recycling sentence you want on pack, if any
We recommend a structure, supply samples and support a sealing trial. You validate shelf life.
What we will not claim
On-pack language should stay inside “designed for recycling” or “designed for PE recycling streams.” We do not supply artwork that says “100% recyclable” or “recyclable everywhere.” Inks, windows and zippers can change whether a program accepts the empty bag. See our recyclability language.
Start with your current snack bag
Request a packaging assessment or samples to start the evaluation.
Recyclability notice
Recycling acceptance and collection methods vary by province, municipality and recycling program. A package described as “designed for recycling” has been developed with material compatibility in mind but may not be accepted in every local collection system.