Your Questions About Recycling

The Expert answers:

Want the down low on the recycling symbols found on the bottom of plastic food and beverage containers?

Here are a few good facts to remember:
1. Plastics are typically classified by one of seven recycling codes, indicating the type of resin used (the code is usually found at the bottom of containers and bottles), as follows:
#1 polyethylene terephthalate (PET or PETE)
Products: Soft drink bottles, medicine containers
#2 high density polyethylene (HDPE)
Products: Toys, bottles for milk, water, detergent, shampoo, motor oil
#3 polyvinyl chloride (V or PVC)
Products: Pipe, meat wrap, cooking oil bottles
#4 low density polyethylene (LDPE)
Products: Wrapping films, grocery bags
#5 polypropylene (PP)
Products: Syrup bottles, yogurt tubs, diapers
#6 polystyrene (PS)
Products: Coffee cups, clam-shell take-out containers
#7 other (usually polycarbonate)
Products: Medical storage containers, some Nalgene water bottles

2. The safer plastics for storing food and drinks are #2HDPE, #4LDPE, and #5PP.

3. Plastics that are accepted for recycling in your area are also good choices. But, don’t store food or drink in #1 PETE even though it is one of the most commonly recycled types. There are no containers designed for re-use made from PETE, and one should never re-use single-use #1 plastic bottles because their design doesn’t lend itself to proper cleaning and the bottles can harbor bacterial growth.

There are, however, a number of reusable containers made from another commonly recycled plastic, #2 HDPE. And number #4 LDPE and #5PP plastics, although not as widely recycled, are also good choices since, as with #2, most research has not shown leaching of any carcinogens or endocrine disruptors. Some bread and frozen food bags and squeezable bottles are made out of #4 plastic and some ketchup bottles and yogurt and margarine tubs are manufactured from #5 plastic.

4. Risky plastics that you don’t want to use for storing food and drinks are #3 PVC, #6 PS, and #7 Other (Usually Polycarbonate).

Sometimes found in clear food packaging, #3 PVC, the second most commonly used plastic in the world, is a toxic plastic dangerous both to our health and to the environment. Its manufacture and incineration releases dioxins, a potent carcinogen and hormone disruptor. Vinyl chloride, the primary building block of PVC, is a known human carcinogen that also poses a threat to workers during manufacture.

In contact with foods, especially hot, fatty foods, PVC can also leach chemicals such as adipates and phthalates, which have been shown to cause birth defects and damage to the liver, kidneys, lungs and reproductive systems in mice. In addition, most community recycling programs do not accept PVC, so the vast majority of vinyl ends up in landfills or incinerators. While many companies have agreed to restrict or phase out PVC, we still have a long way to go before this “toxic” plastic is banned from use.

Polystyrene, #6 PS, is usually found in foam containers and cups and sometimes in clear disposable takeout containers, plastic cutlery and cups. It’s best to avoid this plastic because PS may leach styrene into food it comes in contact with. Styrene, considered a possible human carcinogen by IARC, may also disrupt hormones or affect reproduction.

Polycarbonate (marked as #7), usually found in baby bottles, 5-gallon water bottles and the epoxy lining in food cans can leach BPA into liquids and foods. A study conducted at Prefectural University of Kumamoto, Japan, concluded that polycarbonate bottles containing hot liquids leach more BPA than new bottles.

Since 95 percent of all baby bottles currently on the market are made of polycarbonate, parents have a right to be concerned. The National Environmental Trust recommends switching to polycarbonate-free baby bottles, like those manufactured from glass or from #5 PP.

The Expert answers:

The recycling symbol has three chasing arrows. Each arrow represents one step in the three step process that completes the recycling loop.

1. The first step is collection. This is when you put your recyclables into your curbside recycling bin or take them to a local drop-off center. The collected materials are then prepared to be marketed and are sold to a manufacturing facility.

2. The manufacturing process is the second arrow in the recycling symbol. The recyclable materials are converted into new products and shipped to stores across the country to be placed on shelves as new consumer goods.

3. The third arrow is where you, the consumer, purchase products made with recycled content. When you “Buy Recycled,” you complete the recycling loop.

🙂

The Expert answers:

The recycling symbol is Unicode character 2672, but it doesn’t appear in very many fonts so it is unlikely to show up on Facebook. See http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/char/2672/index.htm for more details.

The Expert answers:

Do you mean Registered? ®
Ascii doesn’t have a recycle symbol sorry but I ƒound this site with alot of characers/symbols you might want to use 🙂
¬?
Http://lefebure.com/webtools/ascii.asp

Because they are html codes they won’t match on your keyboard. ƒor example Alt + 3 (KeyPad) will give you ‘?’
whereas not so with the html equivalents.

Copy & Pas†e or experiment with Alt + Random Number keys 😉

The Expert answers:

Http://www.wasteconnect.co.uk/symbols.asp

I think you will find the information you need on the above website.

The Expert answers:

I’ve been working on educating myself about the symbols and numbers. Check out the following links:

http://www.earthodyssey.com/symbols.html
http://www.obviously.com/recycle/guides/common.html

Some things are easily recyclable; some aren’t depending on what they are made of.

The Expert answers:

Recycling centers might take cereal boxes as “mixed waste paper” but many cereal boxes are not made of the usual corrugated stuff as other boxes that do have the recycling symbol. It’s actually chipboard or paperboard, and these do not have nearly the same recycling value as corrugated cardboard does.

So technically, it is recyclable, but as recycling centers are businesses, most aren’t going to bother recycling it because the demand for recycled chipboard is so low.

The Expert answers:

Http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Recycling_symbol.svg maybe its a trick question. The symbol for recycling seems to be a generic symbol for all recycling.

The Expert answers:

If in doubt, recycle. The recycling center sorts these anyway.