Pet Plastic Recycling Symbol
The number broadly refers to the type of plastic used in the product by chronological order of when that plastic became recyclable.
Pet plastic recycling symbol. It took gary anderson a day or two to come up with his design. Polyethylene terephthalate items referenced are derived from terephthalic acid or dimethyl terephthalate and mono ethylene glycol wherein the sum of terephthalic acid or dimethyl terephthalate and mono ethylene glycol reacted constitutes. A 1 inside the triangle indicates the plastic is polyethylene terephthalate which is shortened to pet or pete. The national association for pet container resources napcor defines pet as.
In many countries pet plastics are coded with the resin identification code number 1 inside the universal recycling symbol usually located on the bottom of the container. 1 even if you don t know the term polyethylene terephthalate pet or pete you ve probably encountered this type of plastic before. Pet or pete pet or pete polyethylene terephthalate is the. Here s what each plastic recycling symbol means along with examples it s found in and how to recycle it.
Codes have been developed for batteries biomatter organic material. The presence on an item of a recycling code a chasing arrows logo or a resin code is not an automatic indicator that a material is recyclable. The recycling symbol is a variant of the möbius loop to symbolize continuity within a finite entity. Here is some information on the various recycling symbols and numbers.
Recycling codes are used to identify the material from which an item is made to facilitate easier recycling or other reprocessing. 1 signifies that the product is made out of polyethylene terephthalate pet beverage bottles cups other packaging etc 2 signifies high density polyethylene hdpe bottles cups milk jugs etc. The folded chasing arrows resembles folded newspapers. For certainty consult this list of the numerical symbols with the types of plastics where they re found and what they make once recycled.
The well recognized chasing arrows symbol we see on plastic containers and products does not mean the product is recyclable. This document should tell you which types of plastic they are currently able to send to recycling plants which will likely be 1 pete and 2 hdpe the pro explains. 1 plastic recycling symbol 1. The little number inside the triangle tells the real story.
The original idea for the symbol was to create a symbol for recycled paper. Salad dressing peanut butter and vegetable oil containers. The recycling symbols plastic 1 pete or pet polyethylene terephthalate picked up by most curbside recycling programs plastic 1 is usually clear and used to make soda and water bottles. It s the most frequently recycled one and it can be found in peanut butter jars plastic soda and water bottles microwavable food trays and salad dressing bottles.
Within each chasing arrows triangle there is a number which ranges from one to seven.