We must integrate “waste literacy” in our social life, to leave a livable world for our children.

There are some symbols and signs on the plastic products for seperating them while recycling.

We can not visually know the characteristics of a waste, so these symbols and being able to understand the meaning of them are very important. A lot of plastic materials can be recycled but methods of recyclings are different.

We can hereby mention about 7 symbols concerning plastic packaging. 
  

1. PET or PETE (polyethylene terephthalate)
  

- Which fields : water bottles, oil bottles, etc.. - Recovery area:  fleece jackets, fiber, carrying bags, furniture, carpet, new liquid bottles etc.    PET plastic is used commonly as single-use liquid bottle and it is preferred because it is cheap, light and recyclable. In additon to that, it is preferred by the liquid product manufacturers because of the low risk of fracture.

2. HDPE (high density polyethylene)

-Which fields: Garbage and shopping bags, shampoo bottles, motor oil cans, margarine and yogurt packages. -Recovery area:  Drain pipe, picnic tables, seat covers, oil cans, detergent packages. A plastic type with versatile fields and as a result of recovery it can turn into lots of different products.

3. Vinyl or PVC
 

-Which fields: plastic pipes, electrical wiring, windows, etc. .. -Recovery area:  Plastic flooring It is used for coating and for piping because of hardness and insulating features. When it is recycled, burning is not required because of the chlorine material inside.

4. LDPE (low density polyethylene)

-Which fields: squizeeble boxes, clothes, carpets, furniture, etc.. -Recovery area: Plastic shopping bags, flooring, plastic trash cans Generally, it is used for the products which should be flexible.

5. PP (polypropylene)

-Which fields: ketchup packages, medicine boxes, bottle caps. -Recovery area: signal lamps, pallets, boxes, brushes PP has a high melting temperature, so it is used for products, which should resist to high temperature. And it has drawn the attention of the recycling companies because of the high recycling rates.

  
 6. PS (polystyrene)

-Which fields: disposable cups, plates, egg boxes, CD containers, etc... -Recovery area: Insulation material, ruler, foam padding Styrofoam, also known as foam material, is a material which is difficult to recycle. And environmental damage of this material is greater.

  
7. Other

-Which field: sun glasses, computer case, bottles, plastic bags, etc.. -Recovery area: Plastic flooring and other plastic products Acrylic, ABS, fiberglass, nylon, polycarbonate are classified as poliactic acid. Generally, hard plastics are included in this group.