Glossy magazines are recyclable, and deinking mills do not merely tolerate them, they specify them. The coating is clay, and in a modern flotation deinking cell the clay particles help adsorb ink and carry it to the surface with the air bubbles. The blend those mills actually want is around 30 percent magazines to 70 percent newspaper, and collection shortfalls mean they often get less magazine than they would like. What disqualifies a magazine is not the gloss but plastic: the mailing wrap, and film-laminated covers.
The old warning had a real origin. The technology changed underneath it, and the advice never caught up.
The myth has a real origin
In the era of wash deinking, magazine clay genuinely hindered recycling, and coated stock was limited to clean industrial sources such as printer waste and unsold returns. The household warning against glossy paper dates from that period and was correct at the time.
Then mills moved to flotation deinking, and the chemistry reversed.
- In a flotation cell, air is bubbled through pulped paper and ink particles attach to the bubbles, rising as a foam that is skimmed off.
- Clay particles help adsorb the ink and rise with it, improving the separation rather than fouling it.
- The effect is strong enough that kaolin-based additives are commercially sold as deinking aids, doing deliberately what magazine coating does incidentally.
- Newer newspaper deinking mills became the primary market for old magazines, which is the exact opposite of the old advice.
This is the same shape of story as the pizza box reversal: a folk rule with a genuine mechanism behind it, overtaken by a change in process, with guidance lagging years behind.
What the coating actually is
- The most common magazine coating is clay, applied to smooth the surface so glossy inks hold a sharp image.
- A two-sided coated magazine sheet runs about 30 to 35 percent clay and filler against 65 to 70 percent fibre.
- The clay is not lost material. It washes out in pulping, and in flotation it works for the process rather than against it.
- Coated groundwood magazine stock is the same fibre family as newspaper, which is why the two are processed together.
Inside the flotation cell
The number worth remembering is the blend.
Flotation systems are designed around a mixture of roughly 30 percent magazines to 70 percent newspapers. The magazine fraction supplies the clay that helps collect ink; the newspaper supplies the bulk fibre.
Industry profiles note that collection problems typically leave the magazine share below the desired level. Households binning magazines out of caution are withholding exactly the material the mill wants more of.
Deinked pulp from this process becomes newsprint, tissue and, with further cleaning, white office paper.
What still disqualifies a magazine
The list is short and it is all plastic.
- The mailing wrap. Poly bags around subscription copies are film. Take the wrap to a store film collection and recycle the magazine separately, for the reasons on our plastic film page.
- Film-laminated covers. Some premium covers carry a plastic laminate. Try to peel a corner or scratch it: if a distinct film lifts away or bubbles, the cover is laminated. Tear the cover off, bin it, recycle the rest.
- Metallic foil covers and embossing in quantity. A small foil logo is tolerable; a fully foiled cover is not.
- Free gifts, sachets and discs bound into the issue. Remove them.
- Waterlogged or mouldy copies. Fibre that has begun to break down contaminates the bale.
What does not disqualify one:
- Staples. Mills remove them with magnets and screens. Leave them in.
- Perfume strips. Paper, and processed as paper.
- Heavy ink coverage. Deinking exists precisely for this.
- Perfect-bound spines with glue. Adhesives are handled as stickies and screened; a glued spine is routine.
Catalogues, junk mail and envelopes
The same logic covers the rest of the letterbox.
- Catalogues are the same coated groundwood stock as magazines and follow the same rules.
- Junk mail goes in whole. Mixed mail is a recognised grade.
- Window envelopes are accepted with the window in. The film is screened out during pulping, though removing it takes seconds and helps.
- Padded envelopes are the exception, covered by the corner test on our bubble wrap page.
- Shiny wrapping paper and metallised gift wrap are not magazines and mostly not paper; the scrunch test applies there, not here.
Newspapers and their inserts
The blend explains one more household habit that turns out to be unnecessary: pulling the glossy inserts out of a newspaper.
A weekend paper with its coated supplements and advertising inserts is the flotation mixture in miniature, roughly the coated and uncoated proportions a deinking line is built for. Leave the inserts in. Separating them gives the mill a stream it will only have to recombine.
The same goes for free local papers and the coated flyers inside them. The one thing to remove from a newspaper is the plastic sleeve it arrives in on a wet day, which is film and follows the film rules.
Better than the bin
A magazine is one of the few paper items with reuse value ahead of recycling.
- Waiting rooms, salons and barbers take recent issues.
- Schools and nurseries use them for collage and craft.
- Charity shops sell back-issue bundles of collectable titles.
- Little free libraries and community shelves move current issues fast.
None of this applies to a ten-year stack in a loft, which should go in the bin whole, staples and all.
Where this fits
Why coated food packaging follows different rules is covered in can you recycle pizza boxes, the carton composite is explained in are milk cartons recyclable, and the wider stream question sits on the recycling hub.
How we produced this
The flotation mechanism, the role of clay in ink adsorption, the 30 to 70 blend and the fibre and filler percentages come from waste industry profiles of magazine recycling and from pulp industry technical literature, including patents and product documentation for kaolin-based deinking agents. The historical note that clay hindered earlier wash-based processes comes from the same profiles, which is why we describe the old advice as outdated rather than baseless.
Circulation and tonnage figures for magazines conflict between decades-old sources, so we have left them out rather than quote numbers we cannot reconcile. Print volumes have fallen steeply since those profiles were written, which strengthens rather than weakens the mills’ appetite for the material.
Acceptance rules differ by council. Glossy magazines are among the most widely accepted paper grades, but your programme’s list is the one that applies to your bin.
Frequently asked questions
Are glossy magazines recyclable?
Yes, and deinking mills actively want them. The coating is clay, and in a flotation deinking cell clay particles help adsorb ink and carry it to the surface with the air bubbles. The blend mills design around is roughly 30 percent magazines to 70 percent newspaper.
Where did the warning about glossy paper come from?
From a real limitation in the older wash deinking era, when magazine clay genuinely hindered recycling and coated stock was limited to clean industrial sources. Flotation technology reversed the chemistry, and the household advice never caught up.
What is the coating on a magazine actually made of?
Clay, applied to smooth the surface so glossy inks hold a sharp image. A two-sided coated sheet runs about 30 to 35 percent clay and filler against 65 to 70 percent fibre, and the clay washes out in pulping.
Do I need to remove staples?
No. Mills remove staples with magnets and screens as a routine part of pulping, and pulling them out by hand adds nothing. Perfect-bound spines with glue are also handled, since adhesives are screened out as stickies.
What about the plastic wrap my magazine arrives in?
That is the one part that must come off. Poly mailing wrap is film, which jams paper processing and belongs in a store film collection. Recycle the magazine itself with your paper.
How do I tell if a cover is laminated with plastic?
Try to peel a corner or scratch the surface. If a distinct film lifts away or bubbles separately from the paper, the cover is laminated. Tear that cover off and bin it, and recycle the rest of the issue.
Are catalogues and junk mail treated the same way?
Yes. Catalogues are the same coated groundwood stock as magazines, and mixed mail is a recognised paper grade. Window envelopes are accepted with the window in, since the film is screened out during pulping.
What do recycled magazines become?
Deinked pulp from the magazine and newspaper blend becomes newsprint and tissue, and with further cleaning it can become white office paper. Magazines can return as high-grade paper rather than only low-grade products.
Can wet or mouldy magazines be recycled?
No. Fibre that has begun to break down contaminates the bale, so waterlogged or mouldy copies belong in general waste. A dry, dusty old stack is fine and can go in whole.
Is reusing magazines better than recycling them?
For recent issues, usually. Waiting rooms, salons, schools and charity shops all take them, and a second reader beats reprocessing. A ten-year stack in a loft has no reuse value and should simply go in the paper bin.