8+ Sustainable Wrapping Paper Alternatives & Ideas For Greener Giving

Most conventional gift wrapping paper is made to look festive, not to be recycled. Shiny foils, glitter, laminates, and plastic coatings (along with petroleum-based inks and solvent dyes) mean that the vast majority of wrapping paper can’t go into curbside recycling. Instead, it’s ripped off, tossed immediately, and sent straight to landfill. Those hidden plastic components break down over time, adding to the growing problem of toxic microplastic pollution.

In this guide to eco-friendly wrapping paper, we’ve focused on options that are non-toxic and can be easily recycled, composted, or reused. We also spotlight brands that go the extra mile in how they source materials (including use of recycled paper) and produce their wrapping. If you’re curious about why choosing eco-friendly gift wrap is a great idea (and how we selected the wrapping paper in this list) scroll to the bottom of the article where we break it all down in more detail.

So if you’ve got a pile of eco-friendly gifts that you need to wrap and can’t wait to get started, get into the sustainable Christmas holiday spirit with these tree-mendous sustainable alternatives to wrapping paper.

Note: We’ve focused on wrap that you actually buy but if you’re interested in DIY or eco-friendly alternatives to conventional wrapping paper, our DIY section below has several ideas for wrapping gifts a little differently this year. We’d also recommend taking a spin through our guide to zero waste gift wrapping which covers more ideas to avoid wrapping paper altogether.

Wrappr’s Sustainable Alternatives to Wrapping Paper

Price Range: $17–$100

Wrappr uses organic cotton fabrics, recycled polyester, mulberry silk, and earth-friendly dyes to create reusable gift wrap that takes whatever gift you’re giving to another level. The designs on Wrappr’s stylish wraps come from artists all over the world. At the time of writing, they’ve worked with 35 artists from five continents. They also now offer gift bags made from either organic cotton or recycled polyester.

The organic cotton and mulberry silk wraps are compostable and will fully break down in 2–5 months, but until the end of their life, the wraps offer an eco-friendly flair to zero waste gifts of all kinds.

We particularly like the furoshiki wrap designs, many of which offer versatile abstract color patterns that feel festive, but would also work for occasions outside of Christmas. We’d personally opt for the organic cotton designs as the most sustainable gift wrap Wrappr offers.

The birth of Wrappr came about following the arrival of a new baby, a climate crisis, and souvenirs from Japan. Furoshiki wraps were the answer. The products are made in China in a BSCI, ISO9001, and HIGG-certified factory, while the artwork is created by independent artists who are paid upfront for their work. Orders are shipped from a US or Canadian warehouse and packed in boxes made from recyclable materials that are fully biodegradable.

Of The Earth’s Eco Gift Wrap

Price Range: $16 for a set of 4 sheets

Made from natural plant fibers, including daphne bush and plant bark, Of The Earth’s handmade compostable wrapping paper is so strong it can be used over and over again. Some varieties of this lokta paper—like Christmas tree reminiscent Green Trees design—are embedded with wildflower seeds, so that you get another gift of green once spring gardening season rolls around.

Of The Earth is the brand’s name, but flowerseedpaper is their Etsy handle—and a good description for the many kinds of handmade wedding invitations and tree-free compostable gift wrap they offer. Their products are made in the highlands of Nepal by rural craftspeople from the bark of the Daphne bush which regenerates from the root when cut, providing a renewable resource.

The bark is beaten by hand and boiled, then mixed with recycled materials such as pulp and paper scrap collected from the card and envelope manufacturing process. It is then poured into screens to form sheets and dried in the sun. All water used in the production process is reclaimed and reused. The cane that’s left once the bark has been removed is dried and used to heat villagers’ homes and to provide cooking fuel.

Waterleaf Paper Co’s Gift Wrapping

Price Range: $15 for 12″ L x47″ W

Whatever the special occasion, Waterleaf Paper Co. offers 100% dissolvable and compostable wrapping paper made from plant cellulose for the job. There are even 72 designs specially for Christmas wrapping paper. Non-toxic, water-based inks are used in various colorful designs, each created by female artists from all over the world.

We love the soft color palette used in the festive yet versatile Watercolor Forest Paper.

Waterleaf Paper Co is proudly female-founded and owned and collaborates with talented female artists from diverse corners of the world. All biodegradable Christmas wrapping paper is custom-made-to-order, ensuring no wasted inventory. The entire product line is free of synthetics and uses non-toxic inks.

Papergem’s Recycled Wrapping Paper

Price Range: $5 for 1 sheet, $20 for 5 sheets

Papergem’s gift wrapping paper is made from 100% FSC-certified recycled neighborhood newspaper and printed using soy inks. Don’t think that makes it boring, though. Double-sided with a floral design on one side and animals on the other, you get twice as much bang for your buck.

The compostable and biodegradable wrapping paper is printed in a family-owned press in Washington state. The paper is also handmade in the US. Purchases come packed in a compostable bag with a recyclable belly band.

As an Etsy seller, you can also shop confidently knowing that Etsy is 100% powered by renewable energy and offsets carbon emissions from delivery on your purchase.

Elf’s Nook’s Gift Wrap

Price Range: $27 for a roll

Elf’s Nook will help make your gift-giving extra fun and ensure everyone feels super special when they open your presents. Recycled brown wrapping paper has never looked so good, whether you choose the Winter Fox & Rabbit design or wrap it up with the Winnie-the-Pooh Vintage Map.

There’s also a line of eco gift paper restored from vintage Christmas carol books.

Elf’s Nook is based in California, and products are handmade. All purchases are hand-rolled and shipped in protective cardboard tubes.

Anastasia Marie Shop’s Sustainable Gift Wrapping

Price Range: $12 for 2 sheets

At Anastasia Marie Shop, you can find biodegradable Christmas wrapping paper, natural gift toppers, and more. These hand-crafted sheets are made using natural materials, predominantly from the bark of the Daphne Bush. This remarkable plant regenerates naturally, providing a renewable resource. The paper is acid-free, and every purchase you make benefits the economic enterprise of rural craftspeople in Nepal. You’ll find some embedded with flower petals, too.

Anastasia Marie Shop is based in southern Washington and began life as a custom stationery and design service. While the materials are from Nepal, the actual product creation process takes place in the US.

Wrappily’s Wrapping Paper

Price Range: $10 for 3 sheets of 24.5 x 34″

Enjoy Wrappily’s new take on gift wrapping. Available in a variety of patterns and styles, great patterns are printed on premium-grade 100% recyclable and compostable newsprint. Plus, paper made this way can be recycled up to seven times.

Our favorite choice for 100% recycled wrapping paper has to be the Peace On Earth design for a fun and artsy take on traditional Christmas motifs. For maximum style on your gifts for minimalists, slap an eco-friendly paper ribbon on top via their Recycled Paper Ribbon.

Wrappily uses neighborhood newspaper presses to print the paper from recyclable premium-grade newsprint. Designs are printed with soy-based inks. Wrappily’s sustainable wrapping paper designs are milled, printed, and packaged in Washington State for the shortest possible supply chain.

What is the most eco-friendly way to wrap a present?

Well, next to nothing at all (but where’s the festive fun in that?), it would be using anything you already have lying around the house. Maybe it’s half-used rolls from last year, or recycled Christmas wrapping paper you carefully cut from the gifts you received last year.

Or maybe it’s just some old brown filler kraft paper you received in your last order from an ethical Amazon alternative (or even Amazon itself).

Just like DIY Christmas decorations, recycled gift wrapping paper in the form of something you already have is always the most low-impact choice.

Here are a few more sustainable wrapping paper ideas:

• Kraft paper, plain paper, or tissue paper make a versatile and biodegradable gift wrap
• Beeswax wraps are ideal for wrapping food or consumable gifts, and double as food storage that can be reused many times
• Fabrics such as cotton, silk, or deadstock fabric, which can be reused or repurposed
• Old maps, newspapers, magazines, or other papers, which can be recycled or composted
• Eco-friendly gift bags and bundles made from jars, tins, pouches, dust bags, cloth produce bags, or baskets that can be reused or donated
• Inside-out chip bags make great eco-friendly gift wrap ideas, creating a shiny effect
• Stone paper, which is tree-free and water-resistant
• Honeycomb cushioning packing paper, which is biodegradable and protective. Again, it’s most sustainable if you’re re-using some that you’ve received in a parcel of some sort
• Kids’ art (if you’re willing to part with it…and they let you)
• Eco-friendly, non-toxic wallpaper (if it has a use post wrapping) or old wallpaper

Most conventional wrapping paper looks festive, but it’s often made with glossy coatings, plastic film, glitter, metallic foils, and synthetic dyes. All of these embellishments typically make it unrecyclable (see more on this below). In many cases, it’s used for a few seconds, torn open, and tossed straight into landfill.

Additionally, a huge amount of wrapping paper is made from freshly cut, non-FSC-certified trees. Because it’s a single-use product, this creates a high-impact cycle of resource extraction for something that’s thrown away within seconds. Cheap inks (especially neon, metallic, or solvent-based ones) can contain heavy metals and VOCs. These inks make the paper harder to recycle or compost and contribute to pollution during manufacturing and disposal.

Is Wrapping Paper Recyclable?

Sometimes gift wrap can be recycled and sometimes it can’t. It mostly depends on not just the wrapping paper itself, but your own local recycling guidelines.

The culprits undermining wrapping paper’s recyclability are often the shiny, glittery, or plastic-coated varieties. These elements, while enhancing aesthetics, aren’t actually paper, but are instead made of metal, plastic, and even synthetic fabrics, in the case of those pleasantly tactile velvet papers.

They may look (and feel) lovely, but the blend of materials interferes with the paper pulp’s purity, rendering it unfit for recycling facilities.

How Do You Tell If Wrapping Paper Can Be Recycled?

Aside from identifying obvious embellishments, one way to tell is to do the scrunch test. Take a piece of wrapping paper and give it a gentle scrunch. If it holds its shape like a compact little ball, you’ve hit the recycling jackpot. However, if it unfurls like a spring eager to leap back into action, it’s likely coated or contains non-paper elements—best to skip the recycling bin and redirect it towards a new destiny.

But that’s just a loose rule of thumb, let’s open things up one gift at a time and dive into what wrapping paper can be recycled and what can’t:

• Plain Wrapping Paper: If no embellishments, then generally yes.
• Foil Wrapping Paper: Generally no, the fusion of foil and paper creates a material that recycling facilities struggle to process efficiently, meaning most facilities will not accept it.
• Glossy Wrapping Paper: Tricky! Certain glossy paper types are accepted by most recycling facilities (think: flyers, postcards, and posters). Typically, the chemicals combined with paper fibers to produce these types of glossy papers are organic, such as fine clay. Concern arises when glossiness is achieved through other, unnatural additives like wax or plastic, which is commonly used in today’s wrapping. In fact, those clear colored cellophane wrapping papers are nothing BUT plastic (but still not the kind you can toss in with your recyclable plastics!). As with anything in the realm of recycling, when in doubt, leave it out.
• Tissue Wrapping Paper: If it lacks metallic or plastic adornments, it can generally be recycled.

Wrapping paper that has tape on it is not recyclable, and other types of wrapping paper that should never go in the compost or recycling bins include those with velvet and glitter.

“It came without ribbons, it came without tags. It came without packages, boxes, or bags.”

Not to sound like the Grinch, but that sounds like a pretty swell Christmas to us. But we also get it; you shopped hard for those ethical gifts, and you want to see the surprise on your loved ones’ faces as they tear open the paper to reveal what’s inside on Christmas morning.

So what is eco-friendly wrapping paper? Here’s how we approached pulling together this list:

Materials:

We first looked for compostable and biodegradable wrapping paper, whether it be single-use kraft paper or (better yet) reusable fabric wraps made of materials like organic cotton.

Next, we looked for recycled Christmas wrapping paper. And if it managed to be both recycled AND compostable, our green as the Grinch hearts are sure to grow three sizes.

Supply chain & green practices:

Materials matter most, but we also consider what other things a brand does to be ethical and sustainable. Small, transparent supply chains, recycling initiatives, and supporting small artisan production partners—all parts of the many ways it’s possible to make the holiday season better for the planet and the people on it.

Final Thoughts On Sustainable Gift Wrapping

Eco-friendly Christmas wrapping paper is about making a jolly good impact on our planet while still delivering those surprise-filled moments we all cherish.

As you embark on your holiday gifting adventures, remember that your choice of eco-friendly wrapping paper can be a gift to Mother Earth, too. Let’s all pledge to make our non-toxic gifts extra special, not by spending a fortune on fancy, unrecyclable paper, but by choosing eco-friendly wrapping alternatives that keep the spirit of the season alive.

To help others merge their love of sustainable living and festive celebrations, please gift this wrap-sody of sustainable Christmas wrapping paper options to your friends and family.