How many plastic items are recyclable?
“The different catagories of plastic, how many are there?” 7 in respect of recycling.
The following is relevant to the UK and US so may not apply elsewhere…
All told there are about 50 different categories of plastics and all of them can be recycled. You need to look on the item for the recycling logo (three arrows making a triangle) and there will be a number inside the triangle, this identifies the type of plastic and how it should be recycled.
• 1 – PET or Polyethylene Terephthalate. Usually used for hard plastic bottles such as those that fizzy drinks come in, these are injection moulded and have a hard spot in the centre of the base where the plastic was injected into the mould.
• 2 – HDPE or High Density Polyethylene. Usually used for soft plastic bottles such as milk bottles or other opaque bottles.
• 3 – PVC or Polyvinyl Chloride. Comes in many different forms including cling film (saran wrap), food trays and plastic bottles. These bottles ban be distinguished from other plastic bottles because they have a seam on the base of them.
• 4 – LDPE or Low Density Polyethylene. Used for carrier bags, polythene sheets etc.
• 5 – PP or Polypropylene. Usually thin plastic, the sort used for margarine tubs and TV dinners.
• 6 – PS or Polystyrene (styrofoam). Expanded polystyrene as in packaging, supermarket meat cartons etc but also hard and brittle as in plastic egg boxes or plastic spoons.
• 7 – Other. Anything that doesn’t fall into the above.
In the UK, different authorities accept different types of plastics so you’ll need to check with the local authority for which ones they collect. Your local household waste recycling centre will accept all types of plastic.
Source: yahoo answers
