Numbers on Plastic Bottles Help Consumers Identify and Sort Household Trash - That's It
April 21, 2008
Contact:
Barry Eisenberg
(202) 974-5210
beisenberg@plasticsindustry.org
Industry Video Explains Meaning of Plastics Numbering System
WASHINGTON, D.C. (April 21, 2008)—SPI, the plastics industry trade association, released a video statement today to clarify the intended purpose of the resin identification codes found on the bottoms of most plastic bottles and rigid containers.
“I’m sure you have seen the numbers, usually surrounded by arrows forming a rounded triangle that are molded or imprinted on your plastic bottles and containers,” says SPI President and CEO William Carteaux. “These “resin identification codes” are simply meant to make sorting and recycling plastic bottles an easy thing to do. They have no other purpose.”
Carteaux’s video explains that different types of plastic must be separated before it can be properly recycled and reused, which is why the U.S. plastics industry created the numbering system in 1988. The resin ID codes were designed to help consumers properly identify and sort their household trash to facilitate recycling in their local town, he says.
“The resin codes do not signify whether or not our local towns will recycle those containers. They do not indicate the safe or intended use of a bottle or container, and they should not be used for that purpose,” Carteaux says. “Furthermore, the resin codes do not provide guidance on the safe or intended use of a product inside the container.”
In addressing one of the key points missed by the media in recent reports, Carteaux explains that code seven is a ‘catch-all’ category designated for all of the plastics that do not neatly fit into any of the first six categories that were developed in 1988.
“Code seven identifies the newest types of plastics such as bio-based plastics made from corn, potato starch and sugar cane, as well as multi-layer plastics. The key point to remember about code seven is that not all of the number seven plastics are the same,” Carteaux explains. “In fact, the opposite is true. Unlike codes 1 through 6, code 7 identifies a variety of different plastics, or a mix of plastics in a single container, that cannot be categorized under the other codes.”
View SPI’s educational video at http://www.youtube.com/user/SocietyofPlasticsInd
Founded in 1937, SPI is the plastics industry trade association representing the third largest manufacturing industry in the United States. SPI's member companies represent the entire plastics industry supply chain, including processors, machinery and equipment manufacturers and raw materials suppliers. The U.S. plastics industry employs 1.1 million workers and provides nearly $379 billion in annual shipments.
