Resin identification code

Despite their similarity to the recycling symbol, resin codes do not indicate whether a product is recyclable. They are frequently misinterpreted by consumers, and contribute to wishcycling (the contamination of recycling bins with unrecyclable goods). At the US Environmental Protection Agency's recommendation, a 2013 revision to the ASTM standard replaced the "chasing arrows" with a solid equilateral triangle, but the old symbols are still widely used among manufacturers.

History

The Society of the Plastics Industry (SPI) first introduced the system in 1988 as the "Voluntary Plastic Container Coding System". The SPI stated that one purpose of the original SPI code was to "Provide a consistent national system to facilitate recycling of post-consumer plastics." The system has been adopted by a growing number of communities implementing recycling programs, as a tool to assist in sorting plastics. To deal with the concerns of recyclers across the U.S., the RIC system was designed to make it easier for workers in materials recovery and recycling facilities to sort and separate items according to their resin type. Plastics must be recycled separately, with other like materials, to preserve the value of the recycled material, and enable its reuse in other products after being recycled.

When a number is omitted, the arrows arranged in a triangle resemble the universal recycling symbol, a generic indicator of recyclability. Subsequent revisions to the RIC have replaced the arrows with a solid equilateral triangle, to address consumer confusion about the meaning of the RIC, and the fact that the presence of a RIC symbol on an item does not necessarily indicate that it is recyclable any more than its absence means the plastic object is necessarily unrecyclable.

In 2008, ASTM International took over the administration of the RIC system and issued ASTM D7611—Standard Practice for Coding Plastic Manufactured Articles for Resin Identification. In 2013, this standard was revised to change the graphic marking symbol of the RIC from the "chasing arrows" of the Recycling Symbol to a solid triangle instead.

In the United States and Canada, the Sustainable Packaging Coalition created in 2008 a project called the "How2Recycle" label. The project has expanded to 525 brands utilizing the label in 2023. The How2Recycle label is an effort to remove guesswork out of recycling by instructing consumers how to recycle the packaging of a product and describing which parts can be recycled. The labels also encourage consumers to check with local facilities to see which plastics each municipal recycling facility can accept.