Q&A: What are the plastic codes?

This article was originally posted on www.nanosphere.co.uk and has been reposted here following the closure of that site

Know your plastic resin codes - they make a difference

Look on the bottom of almost all plastic packaging and you should see a plastic resin code – usually a number inside the recycling symbol. These plastic codes indicate whether or not it can be recycled. A basic understanding of this (see the chart below) will enable you to select where possible, more recyclable materials. If it all feels to hard to deal with a simple rule of thumb is that codes 1 & 2 are well recycled, anything else isn’t.

We’ve put a guide together on how to recycle more with some ideas for avoiding single-use items. Click here to read more.