Excerpts from Chapter 1, Untangling Plastics
What does the chasing arrow symbol with a number in the center mean on specific plastic packages and products? Prior to plastic product coding, the chasing arrow symbol was first used in the 1920s to inform the public that paper products were recyclable. Over the decades, recycling chasing arrows were utilized to educate the public on the recyclability of a wide range of materials, from paper, newspaper, and cardboard to also include glass bottles, aluminum cans, steel cans—and eventually, plastic bottles.
In 1988, the Society of the Plastics Industry introduced its voluntary resin identification coding system, which included a plastic resin number inside the recycling chasing arrows. Because the recycling industry did not adopt this coding system voluntarily, SPI lobbied throughout the United States for state regulations to adopt these plastic resin codes and require that state- or market-specific plastic containers and packaging use this coded symbol, indicating to consumers that the plastic could be—and would be—recycled. For the most part, SPI succeeded.
Yet in most cases, the local recycling systems within the states were not consulted or made aware of the adoption of this new numeric coding system. An NPR news story noted that the plastics industry documents “show that just a couple of years earlier, starting in 1989, oil and plastics executives began a quiet campaign to lobby almost 40 states to mandate that the symbol appears on all plastic—even if there was no way to recycle it economically.”
When the coding symbol began to hit the marketplace in the early 1990s, Coy Smith operated a recycling collection facility near San Diego. He was quoted in the same NPR news story noted above, stating, “The consumers were confused. It undermined our credibility, undermined what we knew was the truth in our community, not the truth from a lobbying group out of D.C.”
The Society of the Plastics Industry received a report in 1993 that told them about the problems in the recycling field. As reported by NPR, the report said bluntly, “The code is being misused. Companies are using it as a ‘green’ marketing tool.” The report told them that the resin code created “unrealistic expectations” about how much plastic could be recycled. Despite nationwide objections from recycling facilities, the coding system remained unchanged.
The American Chemistry Council’s website notes, “The numbers and letters are intended as resin identification codes to facilitate the recycling process.” However, the various recycling material recovery facilities that received and sorted plastics continued to describe their acceptable recyclables through product descriptions and pictorials, avoiding using the numerical symbols. Local governmental offices in charge of recycling education received thousands of calls, so they eventually had to address the resin coding system and translate the regional program’s acceptable list through the coding system. The gap was bridged reluctantly.
Over time, manufacturers of plastic products began to embed the plastic coding symbol on nearly all plastic products and packaging, far beyond the intended reach of the initial coding system. Since no legal or scientific enforcement agency was declared to deal with false recycling claims, there became no means to determine if the symbolled product or packaging was recyclable. Some recycling industry experts estimate that less than 9 percent of the labeled plastics on consumer store shelves are actually recycled in today’s recycling markets.
To propel this new plastic coding system, SPI provided sample legislative language, which was adopted in full text by many states, supported by testimony that this legislation would dramatically increase plastic recycling rates. A total of thirty-nine states have enacted the SPI plastic container coding requirements. In addition to the state code requiring the plastic container coding, the Advancing Standards Transforming Markets (ASTM) offer manufacturers advice on how to interpret these plastic codes.
More on plastic coding in the next blog.