It starts the same way every time. You unzip a pouch of soft bait, that unmistakable scent hits you — and with it, the promise of a good day on the water. What few anglers stop to consider, though, is what’s left behind long after the bait is gone.
Softbait products today are built for performance. They’re infused with scent, ultra-flexible, and designed to last longer in tough fishing conditions. To support that, the packaging has evolved into something highly engineered: multi-layer plastic film pouches, often paired with internal rigid plastic clamshells to maintain bait shape. These packs do their job well when it comes to keeping your bait fresh and easy to handle. But there’s a serious trade-off.
The Plastic Footprint No One Talks About
Most soft bait packaging is made from fused layers of plastic materials such as polyethylene (PE), nylon, and PET. These are bonded together with adhesives and treated with scent- and moisture-barrier coatings. The rigid inserts are typically PET or PVC. None of it is recyclable through regular kerbside systems. Even the small percentage of specialty recycling programs that exist can’t process these materials once they’re contaminated with scent oil, bait residue, or salt.
On average, a single pack of softbait with a plastic insert weighs about 25 grams. Now multiply that by the scale of recreational fishing worldwide. Conservatively:
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10 million softbait packets sold annually
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× 25 grams of plastic per pack
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= 250,000 kilograms (250 tonnes) of soft plastic packaging every year
That’s the equivalent of more than 12 million plastic bottles.
And unlike bottles, which can sometimes be recovered, soft bait packaging is mostly used outdoors — on boats, beaches, wharfs, rocks, riverbanks. It only takes a breeze, a splash, or a forgotten pack to send it straight into the ocean. Once there, it doesn’t disappear. It breaks down into microplastics that enter marine ecosystems, harming fish, birds, and the waters we all love.
Why It’s Not Being Recycled
Even the most well-meaning angler can’t recycle these packs. Here’s why:
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Multi-layer flexible plastics are classified as "composite" and are incompatible with traditional recycling infrastructure.
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Residue from bait scent, oils, and slime contaminates any attempt to recycle.
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Clamshell trays are too small and lightweight to be separated by recycling machinery.
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No curbside program accepts them. Even soft plastics drop-off bins (where available) reject contaminated fishing packaging.
In short: nearly all softbait packaging ends up in landfill — or worse, our oceans.
A Smarter, Cleaner Future: Introducing StormX
At Wise Angler, we saw the need for something better. Not just a marginal improvement, but a reimagining of what softbait packaging could be. That’s why we created StormX — a softbait range that delivers on fishing performance, while finally solving the packaging problem.
StormX packaging is:
- 100% certified home-compostable, with certifications including AS 5810, DIN CERTCO, and TÜV Austria.
- Designed to break down safely in home composting environments, helping to reduce long-term waste and pollution if disposed of responsibly.
- Developed using materials that are renewable, non-toxic, and free from petroleum-based plastics, PVC, and phthalates.
We’ve even tackled the issue of internal presentation. Where others use rigid plastic trays, we’re developing eco-friendly, plant-based clamshell inserts that are fully home-compostable and designed to keep baits in perfect shape — without adding more waste.
Built to Perform. Inspired by Nature.
StormX isn’t just about packaging — it’s about raising the standard of what anglers should expect. High-performance baits, sustainable materials, and real accountability for the waste we create. If every angler made the switch, millions of plastic packets could be removed from our landfills and coastlines.
We believe the best days on the water don’t have to come at the environment’s expense. StormX is proof that better design, better materials, and better choices can lead the way to a cleaner future for fishing.
Make the Switch
Break old habits. Cultivate new ones. Choose StormX and join the movement toward sustainable fishing.
Stay tuned — the official StormX launch is just around the corner. Be among the first to experience the future of softbait fishing.