plastics recycling code

The Plastic Bottle Institute, a division of the Society of the Plastic Industry, developed a code to be molded onto plastic products so that the resin from which the object was made could be easily identified during recycling. A bale consisting entirely of bottles made from the same resin can be put to many more uses than a bale of mixed resins, and is much more valuable. Thirty-nine states have incorporated the code in their waste management legislation.

1	PETE	Polyethylene terphthalate. By far the most valuable of the recycled plastics, and the one most often recycled. It is made into stuffing for pillows, sleeping bags, and quilts, into the fuzz on tennis balls and the tennis ball “can,” carpet, twine combs, car bumpers, and many other products. Until recently it was not remade into containers for food, but a new process has been developed which is said to repurify the plastic at reasonable cost.
2	HDPE	High-density polyethylene.
3	V	Vinyl or polyvinyl chloride.
4	LDPE	Low-density polyethylene.
5	PP	Polypropylene.
6	PS	Polystyrene.
7	OTHER	None of the above. Sometimes the plastic resin is one of those listed above, but it contains an additive which makes it unsuitable for recycling.

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