The Truth About Recycling Foiled Greeting Cards

3 min Our Blog April 12, 2021

In the past two years, we've made great strides to change the way we work so we can move towards a more sustainable future.

In 2020, we removed the plastic slip from all of our greeting cards and switched to using 100% recycled paper for every design. We're proud to be taking action to change the way our industry works.

We know a large percentage of our cards feature foiling, so we wanted to take some time to bust a few myths about the recyclability of these cards.

For those who aren’t greeting card styling experts, foiling is a thin film of metallic foil impressed onto paper using a die—creating an eye-catching print and a premium feel. You’ll spot foiling on many of our greeting and Christmas cards.

There’s a misconception that any print with foil can’t be recycled.

As a retailer of millions of greeting cards each year—many with foiling—we felt it was important to set the record straight.

So, here goes:

Print containing hot foiling CAN be recycled.

Here are the facts:

Once transferred, foil is so thin (less than 2.5 μm) that it completely dissipates within the re-pulping process. The coating weight is often less than conventional inks.
As long as the paper or card you foil onto is also recyclable, you can simply put it in your recycling bin.
Foil used on recyclable material can be re-pulped in normal waste streams.
Foil is a dry, solvent-free method of printing.
Any waste foil from production is collected and recycled by our dedicated waste company.
Our main printer is St Austell Print Company and the foil they use is provided by Foilco, the first foil company to be certified as ZeroFoil2Landfill compliant—a scheme backed by the BPF.

If you'd like to learn more, you can explore these resources: