How To Dispose Of The 7 Types Of Plastics Correctly: A Conscious Consumer’s Guide.
Figuring out different types of plastics can be a tricky and thankless task. This article explains the dos and don’ts of recycling plastics from home. We’re going to let you in on all the simple tips and tricks that we’ve learned through our experiences working alongside smart industry professionals — with the ultimate goal to help you get a better grasp of how to identify your recyclables correctly.
Why are we doing this? We want to educate, empower and encourage more recycling heroes, and we realize that recycling needs a heck of a lot of simplifying to make it happen!
So, what is a Plastic Resin Code?
Before we dive into the details, let’s try out an easy exercise. First, grab the nearest piece of plastic packaging to you right now. It can be anything — a hand sanitizer bottle, a plastic food tray, a takeaway container (you get the gist). Now, check the packaging for a small symbol; you’re looking for three ‘chasing arrows’ in a triangle shape around a number from 1-7. This is the Plastic’s Resin Code. In other words, what type of plastic the packaging is made from.
This label was initially aimed at standardizing plastics’ recyclability. Still, if it were obvious enough, you wouldn’t need to be reading this now!
Here’s what you’re looking for…
If you found it, you may now be asking yourself, “Ok, so what does it actually mean”. If you’re unsure, you're certainly not alone.
We found half of the people we surveyed did not know if the plastic container they were holding is recyclable or not.
What a lot of people don’t know is that this symbol can actually reveal a lot of fascinating information about the packaging, such as; whether or not it is recyclable, where that packaging ends up after you throw it away, and what types of new products can be made. So, if you’re curious to find out how you can start to use these little symbols as your new secret weapon for recycling like a pro, read on, partner!🤠
NB: You may not find the symbol (it’s not always shown), but all is not lost. There are plenty of other ways to tell the type of plastic just by looking at its characteristics; colour, shape, degree of flexibility or weight.
Type 1 — PET or PETE ✅
PET (♳), which stands for Polyethylene Terephthalate, is one of the most common types of plastics on the planet.
How to spot it
It is a clear, flexible, but tough material. It is mostly used for water and other soft drinks bottles, fruit punnets and transparent-bottled spray cleaners. You’ll find that almost all of these products will display the resin code for PET (♳) located on the underside of the packaging.
Easy to recycle?
Yes. PET is one of the most widely recycled plastics in the world. Just don’t forget to empty, rinse, and replace the cap. Side note: if you notice an ‘r’ before PET (rPET), this means the material has been made using recycled plastic and can still be recycled as usual.
Next life:
More PET products!
Facts
PET is mostly used for food and drink packaging purposes due to its strong ability to prevent oxygen from getting in and spoiling the product inside. It also helps to keep the carbon dioxide in fizzy drinks from getting out.
PET resin can also be made into fibre for textiles; in this case, it is typically referred to as Polyester.
Type 2 — HDPE ✅
HDPE (♴) stands for High-Density Polyethylene.
How to spot it
HDPE is relatively easy to spot — it is usually opaque, coloured and somewhat rigid. It is most commonly used for containers such as bleach, shampoo, and medicine bottles. HDPE is thicker than PET but can be used for similar types of products.
Easy to recycle?
Usually in household recycling bins, once emptied.
Next Life
Garden furniture.
Fact
HDPE has the best moisture barrier and chemical resistance of all plastics, making it ideal for cleaning products.
You can also find HDPE will crop up in cereal bags. In this form, they are not recyclable from home.
Type 3 — PVC 🚫
PVC (♵), which stands for polyvinyl chloride, is relatively uncommon for household packaging or containers.
How to spot it
It is difficult to tell if the packaging is made from PVC unless it has the resin code shown.
Easy to recycle?
Nope — these products are not easily recycled. Try to seek out alternatives with reusable or recyclable packaging.
Fact
PVC is highly durable, which means it’s useful for pipes and window frames. But this level of durability is also its environmental downfall — in a landfill, PVC can take well over 1000 years to breakdown. Yikes.
Type 4 — LDPE 🚫
LDPE (♶), short for Low-Density Polyethylene, is one of the main contributors to plastic pollution.
How to spot it
LDPE plastics are flexible and usually clear. They are found as packaging components in the form of films, bags and wrapping. An easy trick to check for LDPE film is to give it a stretch with your finger. If it stretches, then it’probably LDPE.
Easy to recycle?
No — well, not from home anyway. However, some supermarket stores do offer drop-off bins for these types of plastics.
What are the alternatives?
Bring your own reusable bags, try buying loose fruit and veg, or buy bread that comes in paper bags.
Type 5 — PP ✅
PP or Polypropylene (♷).
How to spot it
PP is a hard, rigid and opaque plastic commonly used for ice-cream and margarine tubs, microwaveable (ready-meal) trays, bottle caps, and plant pots.
In film form, you can often find PP as clear packets for fresh vedge. If you give them a scrunch and they immediately spring back to the original shape, it’s probably PP. Any type of plastic film or packet is not recyclable from home though, and is also not normally recyclable from soft plastic drop-off points.
Easy to recycle?
Yes — just don’t forget to empty your containers and give them a quick rinse first.
Fact
PP’s high melting point means it is perfect for hot takeaways and reheating last night’s leftovers!
Type 6 — PS 🚫
Regular Polystyrene (♸)
Multi-pack yogurt pots are the most common example you’ll find of polystyrene on the supermarket shelves. These pots often flex or snap — which is a giveaway sign that they’re made from PVC. Check out our Instagram Reel “The Snap Test” for more info on this. Polystyrene is also used for water cooler cups and some plates/trays. These usually don’t last long due to the brittle nature of PS. These are often referred to as ‘disposable products’.
Styrofoam
Add around a 95% air content to Polystyrene, and you have Styrofoam. This is sometimes used for food trays or, more commonly, that bubbly-looking packaging insert that comes stuffed inside our delivery boxes.
Easy to recycle?
Nope, pop any Polystyrene straight into the general waste bin.
What are the alternatives?
Choose standalone yogurt pots — these are usually Type 5 plastic, HDPE (♷), which is recyclable in most household recycling programs. Shop local, or opt for delivery services that offer ‘less packaging’ as an option.
Type 7 — Other Plastic 🚫
Number 7 is for all plastics other than those identified within types 1–6, such as bioplastics.
Easy to recycle?
Nope, we like to say, “if in doubt, throw it out”. This is because, if it’s not obvious, it probably isn’t recyclable. Trying to recycle it without being confident could result in contaminating the rest of your correctly identified recyclables.
Bioplastics
Bioplastics are usually made of renewable biomass but must stay out of the recycling stream. They cannot be composted from home; instead, they have to be sent to an industrial composting facility.
Takeaways
How to ensure your recyclable plastics will actually get recycled:
1. Always try to separate your plastics responsibly.
2. Don’t mix organics (food waste) with recyclables. Rinse off the worst, but you don’t need to spend ages on it!
3. Put your recyclable caps and lids back on. Otherwise, they can get lost during processing.
If that was a tad overwhelming — here’s what to remember:
1. Always check before throwing away. Our upcoming Scrapp App can help with that. 😉
2. The three types of plastics that are considered as safely recyclable options in most programs are Type 1 — PET (♳), Type 2 — HDPE (♴), and Type 5 — PP (♷).
3. If in doubt, throw it out.
This article comes from the team behind Scrapp. We’re a cleantech start-up building our very own app to simplify recycling. This week (15th February 2021), we started accepting testers for the app — you can sign up here.
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If you just want to check out more tips like these, check out our Instagram page.
We’ll see you there 👋.
