Identification of Recycling Plastic

This symbol does not guarantee that plastics are recyclable.

Recycling plastic is one small step each person can take to reduce waste and improve the environment. Unfortunately, being environmentally conscious with regards to plastic can be confusing. Not all plastic is considered equal and not all plastic is recyclable. Plastic containers are coded to identify the type of plastic, but this is no guarantee that they can be recycled. Knowing how to identify plastic that is recyclable can help with both the discarding of old plastic products as well as the purchasing of new ones.

Things You'll Need

• Plastic containers

Instructions

1. Locate the triangle with chasing arrows on the bottom of the plastic container. Find the single-digit number inside of the triangle. It will range from one to seven. This number identifies the type of plastic and whether it can be recycled or not.

2. Determine if the container is suitable for a curbside recycling program. Containers with a one include water, soda and beer bottles, as well as mouthwash bottles, peanut butter jars and salad dressing bottles. Containers with a No. 2 are typically milk, juice and detergent containers. Nos. 1 and 2 are accepted by most curbside recycling programs.

3. Research the allowable plastics for your curbside recycling program before including any items with Nos. 3 through 7. Items with fives and sixes include shampoo and cleaning agent bottles, egg cartons, ketchup, butter, and yogurt containers. Select curbside programs accept Nos. 5 and 6.

4. Segregate any remaining plastics by their number and contact the nearest recycling center, if available in your community. Drop off the accepted containers at the recycling center. Ask about any additional facilities that might accept plastic containers.

5. Reduce the amount of plastic used wherever possible and consider reusing plastic containers.

Tips & Warnings

• Reuse your plastic containers as much as you can before discarding them to the recycle bin. According to the Ecology Center, plastic containers can be reused about 25 times.

• The tops of containers are more often than not made of a different type of plastic than their counterparts. Therefore, do not assume that you can recycle the top of a container along with the container itself. Check to make sure that it is recyclable as a separate step.

References

• The Daily Green
• Ecology Center: Plastics Task Force
• Commonly Recycled Materials

Resources

• Green Living Tips: Recycling By the Numbers