Recycling: What Do The Numbers Mean?

http://www.greenlivingtips.com/articles/187/1/Recycling-by-the-numbers.html Green living has a nice article about what the numbers on plastics mean. This information is taken from their web site but can be found on many other web sites.

1 - PETE - Polyethylene Terephthalate: The easiest of plastics to recycle. Often used for soda
bottles, water bottles and many common food packages. Is recycled into bottles and
polyester fibers.
2 - HDPE - High density Polyethylene: Also readily recyclable - Mostly used for packaging
detergents, bleach, milk containers, hair care products and motor oil. Is recycled into more
bottles or bags.
3 - PVC - Polyvinyl Chloride: This stuff is everywhere - pipes, toys, furniture, packaging - you
name it. Difficult to recycle and PVC is a major environmental and health threat.
4 - LDPE Low-density Polyethylene: Used for many different kinds of wrapping, grocery bags
and sandwich bags and can be recycled into more of the same.
5 - PP - Polypropylene: Clothing, bottles, tubs. Can be recycled into fibers.
6 - PS - Polystyrene: Cups, foam food trays, packing peanuts. Polysterene is a real problem as
it's bulky yet very lightweight and isn't really worth recycling.
7 - Other--Could be a mixture of any and all of the above. Or plastics not readily recyclable such
as polyurethane. Avoid it if you can - recyclers generally speaking don't want it. Although
you could send it back to the company and let them deal with it.