Plastic Codes: A Visual Guide

This guide is a work-in-progress, our end-goal being a comprehensive sorting aid that can be used as part of your own home or office recycling plan. As we collect more information, we will add it here. Please comment with your recycling questions and contributions and we'll try to incorporate them.

SOLIDS

#1 Plastic Solids: PETE
Clear plastic to-go cups and lids, soda bottles, take-out containers



#2 Plastic Solids: HDPE
Shampoo bottles, deoderant tubes, tofu containers, milk jugs, household detergents



#3 Plastic Solids: PVC
Hard yet flexible clear plastic, commonly used for toiletries, computer and electronics packaging (e.g. toothbrushes, hard drives, videotapes, USB cords)



#4 Plastic Solids: LDPE
Flexible lids to plastic food tubs



#5 Plastic Solids: PP
(SOFT) Yogurt containers, flexible take-out tubs, fruit baskets, straws; (HARD) plastic screw-tops, DVD/CD spools, hard take-out lids



#6 Plastic Solids: PS
Styrofoam, coffee lids, condiment cups, clear plastic take-out boxes, cutlery, opaque lids to fast food cups

#7 Plastics: Miscellaneous
This category is plastics made up of multiple resin layers or parts (in our case a toner cartridge sleeve and fruit container) but also includes three to five gallon water bottles and sunglasses



Unknowns
Metro card, misc. hard cards, broken plastic Ikea lamp, plastic netting, retractable pen, contact lens case, rubbery container, etc.

FILMS

#2 Plastic Bags: HDPE
Grocery bags, film-like opaque colored bags, cereal box liners



#4 Plastic Bags: LDPE, LLDPE, MDPE, HDPE
Ziploc bags, bread bags, toilet paper packaging, dry-cleaning bags, bubble wrap, and other stretchy yet tougher bags



Crinkly Plastic Packaging: (Code TBD)
Pasta bags, corn chip bags, seals for DVDs and other containers, bread liners, and other films that are tough, crinkly, and either don't tear or tear in a straight line



Thick, Tough Plastics: (Code TBD)
Plastic film that is not easily stretched or torn, often used for vacuum sealing meat