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Adhesive closure. Available with suffocation warning. 100% post-industrial waste. Manufactured in USA. Warning copy written in English, Spanish, and French.
Available in 7 sizes
Ready to ship | Min. 200 units
Customizable | Request a quote
Zipper closure. Available with suffocation warning. 100% post-consumer waste. Manufactured in China. Warning copy written in English.
Available in 5 sizes
Ready to ship | Min. 200 units
Customizable | Request a quote
For enterprise brands. Up to 100% recycled content. Manufactured and distributed where needed. Custom suffocation warning, bag size, mil thickness, and design.
Available in custom sizes
Completely customized
Min. 15,000 units | Request a quote
In the United States, five states (Massachusetts, California, New York, Rhode Island, and Virginia) and two major cities (New York City and Chicago) currently have legislation in place regarding suffocation warnings on poly bags.
At least a dozen US cities have also adopted similar legislation (including Avondale, AZ; Big Stone Gap, VA; East Baton Rouge Parish, LA; Flagstaff, AZ; Gering, NE; Norton, VA; Prince William County, VA; Saint Louis County, MO; South Bend, IN; South Hill, VA; Stamford, CT; and Weatherford, TX).
Canada has also enacted similar legislation.
Legislation across all states and cities applies only to bags that are 1 mil or less. 1 mil = 0.001 inches. Note that all of EcoEnclose's poly bags 1.5 mil, making them thick enough that the state and municipal legislation does not technically apply to them.
Each state / city has its own unique legislation on how big the bag needs to be before a suffocation warning is required and the scope of the bags use.
The following table details size, scope and exclusions for state and major cities which this regulation in place.
| State / City | Bag Sizes | Scope | Exclusions |
| California | Opening > 25 inches or capacity of 125 cubic inches. | Any bag sold or delivered, or used to package articles delivered to purchases. | Bags used solely for industrial purposes. |
| Massachusetts | Length and width totals 25 inches or more, and an opening has a diameter of at least 7 inches. | Plastic bag or partial plastic bag intended for domestic use or designed or decorated to encourage use as a toy. | N/A |
| New York | Length and width totals 25 inches or more, and an opening has a diameter of at least 7 inches. | Plastic bag or partial plastic bag intended for domestic use or designed or decorated to encourage use as a toy. | N/A |
| Rhode Island | Opening > 5 inches in diameter | Polyethylene bags or packaging articles that are used in and around households. | Bags intended for food products |
| Virginia | Length totals 25 inches or more. | Plastic bags or partial plastic bags containing freshly cleaned clothing. | N/A |
| Chicago, IL | Opening > 7 inches in diameter | Polyethylene bags or packaging articles that are used in and around households. | Bags intended for food products |
| New York, NY | Length and width totals 25 inches or more and opening has diameter of at least 7 inches. | Plastic bag, partial plastic bag or packaging articles intended for domestic use or designed or decorated to encourage use as a toy. | N/A |
States and cities have differences in the specific language they suggest using as a suffocation warning, but the following warning is accepted by all.
Warning: To avoid danger of suffocation, keep this plastic bag away from babies and children. Do not use this bag in cribs, beds, carriages, or playpens. This bag is not a toy.
States and local laws also vary with respect to the font size required for suffocation warnings, but the following guidelines should satisfy most major cities and states.
| Total Combined Length & Width of Bag | Minimum Type |
| Less than 25 inches | 10 point |
| 25 to 39 inches | 14 point |
| 40 to 59 inches | 18 point |
| 60 inches or more | 24 point |
| Dry cleaning bags | 36 point |
In general, the Massachusetts law is the most comprehensive and restrictive, and requires that any language, other than the warnings specifically provided by the statute, have government approval. In addition, Massachusetts requires that the warning must appear on both sides of the bag and be repeated at 20-inch intervals for bags whose length and width are more than 40 inches. Learn more here.
Fulfillment by Amazon is becoming popular for many ecommerce companies.
With Amazon FBA, your orders are fulfilled by Amazon for a fee that covers storage and order handling. Amazon has a host of packaging requirements companies need to keep in mind when using the FBA service. These requirements dictate how ecommerce companies must package their goods in bulk when delivering them to the Amazon warehouse.
Because Amazon packages and sends these goods out themselves (with their own sourced and branded boxes and mailers), these packaging requirements do not relate to outer containers or shipping packages.
Many companies send items to Amazon warehouse in a large wholesale shipping box, individually packaged and separated in clear plastic bags. These poly bags protect goods when they are being stored in Amazon's warehouse and allow for easier picking (versus if goods were not individually packaged in these bags). Products remain in those poly bags when they are being shipped out to end customers.
So for example, if you sell t-shirts and fulfill orders through Amazon FBA, you would send cases of t-shirts to Amazon in wholesale shipping boxes, with each t-shirt individually packaged in a poly bag. When Amazon is fulfilling an order that contains one of your products, their pickers will pick and pack the t-shirt within the poly bag, adding this bag to the outbound box or mailer.
Amazon has strict requirements in place for these poly bags in order to facilitate smooth operations within their warehouse and protect themselves from any liability. Poly bags used to protect units must meet the following requirements:
Currently, neither eBay nor Etsy have their own requirements in place related to suffocation warnings as these are marketplaces through which merchants sell and fulfill their own orders (and therefore own any liability related to their packaging).
Other online retailers, such as Target and Walmart, which store and fulfill goods within their own warehouse, do have requirements in place. Target's packaging standards for hard goods requires all poly bags to have a suffocation warning with a font size of at least 20-point. Walmart requires plastic bags with a thickness 1 mil or less and an opening size of five inches or more to have a warning.
EcoEnclose offers four poly packaging options:
Outer packaging. Thin-film recyclable, tear strip for easy opening, and a second adhesive strip for reuse. 100% recycled, 50% post-consumer waste. Manufactured in USA. No suffocation warning.
Available in 8 sizes and 2 colors
Ready to ship | Min. 100 units
Customizable | Min. 500 units
Outer packaging. Thin-film recyclable, tear strip for easy opening, and a second adhesive strip for reuse. 50% recycled, 10% post-consumer waste. Manufactured in USA. No suffocation warning.
Available in 4 sizes
Ready to ship | Min. 25 units
Customizable | Request a quote
Inner packaging. Protect items from dust, dirt, moisture, and scratching. Adhesive closure. Available with suffocation warning. 100% post-industrial waste. Manufactured in USA. Warning copy written in English, Spanish, and French.
Available in 7 sizes
Ready to ship | Min. 200 units
Customizable | Request a quote
Inner packaging. Protect items from dust, dirt, moisture, and scratching. Zipper closure. Available with suffocation warning. 100% post-consumer waste. Manufactured in China. Warning copy written in English.
Available in 5 sizes
Ready to ship | Min. 200 units
Customizable | Request a quote
Our poly mailers and bubble mailers are 2.5 mil and designed for outer shipping packages rather than protective packaging for warehousing and fulfillment. Therefore, our poly mailers and bubble mailers are not subject to state, city, Amazon FBA, Target, or Walmart suffocation warning requirements.
Our poly bags are designed for inner protective packaging for warehousing and fulfillment. Therefore, poly bags with a suffocation warning are required if you are using them as part of your Amazon FBA strategy. The suffocation warning can be printed directly on the bag or conveyed via Amazon FBA approved labels.
Our poly bags are 1.5 mil. As such, they are not technically subject to state and city suffocation warning requirements. However, recognizing that these laws exist to protect your customers and their children, we know you may decide to proactively incorporate these warnings onto these bags anyway.
Contact us f you have questions about these requirements, or are looking for custom poly bags with suffocation warnings.
