Yes, inks and the percentage of ink coverage can impact recyclability.  Generally speaking, the less ink used the easier a package will be to recycle.  As recycling becomes more prevalent the amount of ink used will likely impact the value of the material being recycled.

The Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR) promotes the development of the plastics recycling industry.  They publish a comprehensive design guide that can be found in here. In addition, APR has a PCR certification program to create greater transparency for buyers and sellers of PCR materials.

Post-consumer resin is made from plastic that has completed its intended purpose and reached its end of life format, then was collected, sorted, and reprocessed into resin.

Post Consumer Resin (PCR) is a good option.  The supply of PCR resin suitable for food contact packaging is growing rapidly and is now available for use in a variety of loading percentages.

Compostable materials are an option although it needs to be determined what claims can be made on a given package, what the supply chain of such materials may be and whether industrial composting infrastructure exists in the region.

Generally speaking the answer is no.  However, any value-add features such as a zipper closure would have to go through the same testing and claim confirmation process as the film itself.

The most cost-effective sustainable packaging is to design the right size package and engineer the correct film thickness to meet the application at hand.  Simply reducing film gauge can eliminate a large amount of plastic being used.

We believe that there will be a large increase in the use of Post Consumer Recycled (PCR) material in the coming years.  This will be coupled with a reduction in the use of non-recylable packaging such as laminations incorporating dissimilar materials that cannot be recycled.