If you were to flip over most everyday items made of polymer, especially those which are disposable, you would have noticed the triangular sign with a number within and maybe some alphabets below. This is the Resin Identification Code, and unless you were working with a disposable consumer item and your company is committed to label their product accordingly, you may not have given it a second's thought.
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| Image taken from Flickr (by holeymoon) |
In order to address the recyclers' rising need for a clear indication of polymer used, Society of Plastics Industry, Inc (SPI) developed and introduced the identification code in 1988. This code is usually found in packaging and containers since these are the main targets of municipal recycling programs, seeing that they are one of common items encountered within residential waste.
The code is used solely to identify the plastic resin in a manufactured item. In fact, the triangular label with 3 twisting arrows along with the number within are commonly misinterpreted. The number within is an arbitrarily chosen number to represent the target plastics, and has nothing to do with ease of recycling. A higher number does not mean that the plastics is harder to recycle.
