Image Made of Used in
Type1
PETE Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) Soda & water containers, some waterproof packaging.
Type2
HDPE High-Density Polyethylene. Milk, detergent & oil bottles, Toys and plastic bags.
Type 3
V Vinyl/Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC). Food wrap, vegetable oil bottles, blister packages.
Type 4
LDPE Low-Density Polyethylene. plastic bags. Shrink wrap, garment bags.
Type 5
PP Polypropylene. Refrigerated containers, some bags, most bottle tops, some carpets, some food wrap.
Type 6
PS Polystyrene. Throwaway utensils, meat packing, protective packing.
Type 7
Others. Layered or mixed plastic.


These symbols are meant to indicate the type of plastic, not its recyclability.

  • Types 1 and 2 are commonly recycled.
  • Type 4 is less commonly recycled.
  • Type 7 No recycling potential.Must be landfilled.
  • The other types are generally not recycled, except perhaps in small test programs.
  • Common plastics polycarbonate (PC) and acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) do not have recycling numbers.
  • Plastics 3, 6, and 7 probably contain BPA and should not be used to store anything that will be consumed by humans
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Authors Doaa Balfakih, Lonny Grafman
License CC-BY-SA-3.0
Language English (en)
Related 0 subpages, 4 pages link here
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Impact 125 page views (more)
Created April 7, 2008 by Doaa Balfakih
Last modified March 2, 2022 by Page script
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