Plastic ID Codes & Bottle Properties

There are 7 different groups of plastics. Each group has its own Plastic Identification Code.

Although many types of plastics can be recycled, at the moment the only household plastic waste is recycled. All plastic bottles can be recycled except brown drink bottles, such as those used to hold beer. These bottles need several types of plastic to keep the beer fresh, which makes recycling difficult.

	Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET)	High Density Polyethylene (HDPE)	Polyviny Chloride (PVC)	Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE)	Polypropylene (PP)	Polystyrene (PS)
Plastic ID Code
Clarity	Clear	Translucent	Clear	Translucent	Translucent	Clear
Moisture Barrier	Fair to Good	Good to Excellent	Fair	Good	Good to Excellent	Poor to Fair
Oxygen Barrier	Good	Poor	Good	Poor	Poor	Fair
Max. Temperature	120F	145F	140F	120F	165F	150F
Rigidity (Stiffness)	Moderate to High	Moderate	Moderate to High	Low	Moderate to High	Moderate to High
Resistance to Impact	Good to Excellent	Good to Excellent	Fair to Good	Excellent	Poor to Good	Poor to Good
Resistance to Heat	Poor to fair	Good	Poor to Fair	Fair	Good	Fair
Resistance to Cold	Good	Excellent	Fair	Excellent	Poor to Fair	Poor
Resistance to Sunlight	Good	Fair	Poor to Good	Fair	Fair	Poor to Fair

Remark:

Plastic ID Code "7" is for the other plastics except above mentioned 6 groups.

If the container is manufactured using a blend of plastics, eg two or more plastics (PET and any other polymer), the container should be identified 7.