I’ll admit I’ve never looked at the codes on the bottom of my plastics until I started trying to rid my household of plastics containing BPA.  While this began so I could eliminate a health concern for my children, I’ve since learned what these codes mean in the world of recycling.  Hopefully after reading this, some confusion will be eliminated so that people can start recycling the right types of plastic and realize how harmful plastic is to our environment.  

Resin codes are found on most plastic with the ‘chasing arrows’ surrounding them in a triangle shape.  These codes were created to classify plastic products.  The arrows are misleading because they duplicate the symbol for recycling, however, it’s not true that plastics marked with any resin code can be recycled.  

Most cities have their own recycling programs and govern which plastic resin codes they’ll accept at curb-side.  My community accepts a high number of resin numbers (1,2,4,5,6) and have different and appropriate departments where each plastic is recycled appropriately.   If a code 3 or 7 gets mixed into what a resident leaves out, that too gets sorted and put in the garbage, as there isn’t a recycling program for these two numbers.  Find out which resin codes your city takes and what it does with plastic that doesn’t have a recycling program.  Because all plastics have different melting points, it’s important to keep the different types separate because if recycled together, you wind up with goo.  

Worldwide recycling rates for plastics with resin codes  3-7 is around 1 percent.   Yikes!   NONE of type 7 plastics can be recycled.  

Key points from this information?    Remember that the little triangle made of arrows doesn’t always indicate recyclability for all codes.   Also, with such low percentages of all plastics being recycled, we should try to limit what we purchase in the first place.  

Charts and graphs normally confuse me, but the American Plastics Council gives a nice breakdown of the codes, their description, and examples of products produced from them.

Codes	 Descriptions	 Properties	 Packaging Applications	 Recycled Products
	Polyethylene Terephthalate(PET, PETE). PET is clear, tough, and has good gas and moisture barrier properties. Commonly used in soft drink bottles and many injection molded consumer product containers. Other applications include strapping and both food and non-food containers. Cleaned, recycled PET flakes and pellets are in great demand for spinning fiber for carpet yarns, producing fiberfill and geo-textiles. Nickname: Polyester.	Clarity, strength, toughness, barrier to gas and moisture, resistance to heat	Plastic soft drink, water, sports drink, beer, mouthwash, catsup and salad dressing bottles. Peanut butter, pickle, jelly and jam jars. Ovenable film and ovenable prepared food trays.	Fiber, tote bags, clothing, film and sheet, food and beverage containers, carpet, strapping, fleece wear, luggage and bottles.
	High Density Polyethylene(HDPE). HDPE is used to make bottles for milk, juice, water and laundry products. Unpigmented bottles are translucent, have good barrier properties and stiffness, and are well suited to packaging products with a short shelf life such as milk. Because HDPE has good chemical resistance, it is used for packaging many household and industrial chemicals such as detergents and bleach. Pigmented HDPE bottles have better stress crack resistance than unpigmented HDPE bottles.	Stiffness, strength, toughness, resistance to chemicals and moisture, permeability to gas, ease of processing, and ease of forming.	Milk, water, juice, cosmetic, shampoo, dish and laundry detergent bottles; yogurt and margarine tubs; cereal box liners; grocery, trash and retail bags.	Liquid laundry detergent, shampoo, conditioner and motor oil bottles; pipe, buckets, crates, flower pots, garden edging, film and sheet, recycling bins, benches, dog houses, plastic lumber, floor tiles, picnic tables, fencing.
	Vinyl (Polyvinyl Chloride or PVC): In addition to its stable physical properties, PVC has excellent chemical resistance, good weatherability, flow characteristics and stable electrical properties. The diverse slate of vinyl products can be broadly divided into rigid and flexible materials. Bottles and packaging sheet are major rigid markets, but it is also widely used in the construction market for such applications as pipes and fittings, siding, carpet backing and windows. Flexible vinyl is used in wire and cable insulation, film and sheet, floor coverings synthetic leather products, coatings, blood bags, medical tubing and many other applications.	Versatility, clarity, ease of blending, strength, toughness, resistance to grease, oil and chemicals.	Clear food and non-food packaging, medical tubing, wire and cable insulation, film and sheet, construction products such as pipes, fittings, siding, floor tiles, carpet backing and window frames..	Packaging, loose-leaf binders, decking, paneling, gutters, mud flaps, film and sheet, floor tiles and mats, resilient flooring, cassette trays, electrical boxes, cables, traffic cones, garden hose, mobile home skirting.
	Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE).Used predominately in film applications due to its toughness, flexibility and relative transparency, making it popular for use in applications where heat sealing is necessary. LDPE is also used to manufacture some flexible lids and bottles and it is used in wire and cable applications	Ease of processing, strength, toughness, flexibility, ease of sealing, barrier to moisture.	Dry cleaning, bread and frozen food bags, squeezable bottles, e.g. honey, mustard.	Shipping envelopes, garbage can liners, floor tile, furniture, film and sheet, compost bins, paneling, trash cans, landscape timber, lumber
	Polypropylene (PP). Polypropylene has good chemical resistance, is strong, and has a high melting point making it good for hot-fill liquids. PP is found in flexible and rigid packaging to fibers and large molded parts for automotive and consumer products.	Strength, toughness, resistance to heat, chemicals, grease and oil, versatile, barrier to moisture.	Catsup bottles, yogurt containers and margarine tubs, medicine bottles	Automobile battery cases, signal lights, battery cables, brooms, brushes, ice scrapers, oil funnels, bicycle racks, rakes, bins, pallets, sheeting, trays.
	Polystyrene (PS). Polystyrene is a versatile plastic that can be rigid or foamed. General purpose polystyrene is clear, hard and brittle. It has a relatively low melting point. Typical applications include protective packaging, containers, lids, cups, bottles and trays.	Versatility, insulation, clarity, easily formed	Compact disc jackets, food service applications, grocery store meat trays, egg cartons, aspirin bottles, cups, plates, cutlery.	Thermometers, light switch plates, thermal insulation, egg cartons, vents, desk trays, rulers, license plate frames, foam packing, foam plates, cups, utensils
	Other. Use of this code indicates that the package in question is made with a resin other than the six listed above, or is made of more than one resin listed above, and used in a multi-layer combination.	Dependent on resin or combination of resins	Three and five gallon reusable water bottles, some citrus juice and catsup bottles.	Bottles, plastic lumber applications.
Source: AmericanPlasticsCouncil.org

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