In a word...yes.  Stand up pouches, also known as stand up bags or stand bags, are in fact recyclable.  Stand up pouches, stock and plain or printed and custom are made from multiple layers of engineered barrier film.  This barrier film is laminated and joined together.  This barrier film serves several purposes.  One it creates the barrier properties to protect the contents from any type of negative element such as moisture, vapor, odor, puncture, even UV rays if necessary.  

Keep in mind, each product inside a stand up pouch is unique and this should be taken into account when designing the stand up bag to begin with.  Some products need to be protected more from moisture, others may have sharp edges, while some have an oil residue, etc.  Two, the laminated barrier film creates the strength and durabilty for the stand bag to stand effectively and erect on a store shelf.  Finally, by design the wide face and back and bottom gusset even provide generous amounts of space and room for custom printing and brand building.

However, stand up bags are landfill friendly and can be thrown away with general trash as well as being recycled via a recycling program.  As part of a reycling program, a stand up pouch would be considered an R7. This R7 designation means it will be grouped together with other plastic items, bottles, canisters, jugs, plastic bags, etc.  All of these items will be ground up into tiny pellets, called re-grind and be used as a filler or a base ingredient in other types of packaging materials like park benches, picnic tables, plastic lumber, etc.

It's important to note, not many packaging items can say the same as a stand up bag.  Many items need to be thrown away completely due to glue or adhesive or ink used as part of their original manufacturing process.  Stand up pouches are different.  Even with custom printed stand up pouches, the inks used are water based and there are no solvents or nasty chemicals used when making stand bags so everything is safe.

Finally, being recyclable is different than biodegradable.  Each of these terms mean something completely different.  Rest assured, stand up pouches are recyclable and in coming posts, I will explain biodegradable.