ENVIRONMENT: What Are Those Numbers Stamped On Your Plastic Containers?

by Garrett O'Brien

The number symbols you see inside triangles on plastic bottles and containers?

They were not meant to help us identify which ones to recycle.

The numbers are part of a number system that was started by the Society of Plastics Industry (SPI) to identify the plastic resin content.

Maybe that’s why the numbers are so hard to see.

Every local recycling facility collects different types of plastics, and you need to contact your recycling center to know which plastics get collected. 

Typical of green energy - nothing is straightforward.

Nothing like micromanaging your trash as a non-profit side hustle…

You are better off not buying anything in plastic if you can, that would be possible from local businesses but the large corporations only care about their quarterly bottom line.

Many items you can even make at home, including soaps of all kinds.

Otherwise, they wouldn’t be using plastic at all - it’s our fault for enabling them to place us in this position.

Bottom-line, there are seven types of plastics.

Generally, most recyclers accept plastics #1 and #2.

Plastics #3 to #6 are more difficult to recycle, and some recycling centers do not process them. 

Plastic #7 is even more challenging to recycle and is almost always excluded.

To see how long it takes various items to decompose, click the button below [archive]…

src: Farmers Almanac