For the love of PETE

Stardate: March 7, 2014

Third day of Lent

Second day of retreat from the family

First installment of "what does that number mean?"

Find an obviously plastic thingy made in the last twenty years.  Quick, look at the bottom! (This is especially funny if it's a full soda bottle and you just turn it over to see.  I've ruined shoes this way).  What's that number?

Well, in the first installment of explaining in exhaustive detail the meaning of those numbers, if it really IS a soda bottle, it might be a number 1.  Only it looks like a teeeeny l (or is it an 1?) inside a tiiiiny bent arrow triangle (which may or may not be a little bent arrows*), with the twiddlest widdle letters PETE under it.  And it’s almost perfectly centered, with very little else on the bottom of your otherwise heavily marketed bottle.  Hmmmm.  There’s a story here.

* Apparently the chasing arrows motif was started in 1988 by the SPI organization, which is THE plastics industry trade association (translation: this group has a vested interest in shaping and directing your relationship with plastic because they represent the for-profit corporations that make and distribute plastic.  Treat them with caution.  They are experts, but they also make money off you liking and using their products). 

SPI and its members are, however, the ones credited with getting the whole numbering system off the ground—but here’s the shocking revelation!   The numbers are NOT there to indicate recyclable type; they are actually there to simply label the form of resin used to make the plastic.  The bent arrows motif was so assumed to mean recyclable—when some items decidedly are not—that the industry decided in 2013 to shift to a logo more focused on mere identification of the resin, hence the radical shift to make bent arrows into triangles.  I know, the difference is startling.  And the public, oh, we are so much better informed now.

BUT this is why, should you find a plastic made since 2013, the number really is in a true triangle rather than amid the “recyclable” bent-arrow motif.  They don’t really mind you assuming that all plastics can be recyclable, but they also don’t want to be held responsible that they are not.  And they are not all recyclable.

And thus here are the rules for labeling plastics, according to the industry experts:

• Use the code on bottles and rigid containers in compliance with the 39 state laws now in effect. (There are only 39 states with laws on this? Which ones!? See footnote 1.)
• Use the code solely to identify resin content. (yes, and not to indicate any suggestion whatsoever that it might or might not be recyclable).
• Comply with the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC’s) Guides for the Use of Environmental Marketing Claims whenever the code is used. (Yes, I will look this up, see below)
• Make the code inconspicuous at the point of purchase so it does not influence the consumer's buying decision. (WHOA. YES, it SHOULD influence the consumer’s buying decision! Is this why the number is so darn small?? Cause if I know the type of resin a plastic is made of, I can also know its recyclability and its proper use, and whether I think it’s safe regardless of what the FDA has kindly-and-paternalistically told me. I will totally buy more of a plastic I think is recyclable, and less of one I don’t…like, say, Polystyrenes/Styrofoam. So here we can see the industry association trying to be ‘fair’ to all its industry members, rather than the consumer; hence, this is not a consumer issue. It’s an industry issue.)
• Do not modify the elements of the code in any way (i.e., do not replace the resin acronym in the code). (Thanks)
• Do not make recycling claims in close proximity to the code, even if such claims are properly qualified. (Aha! Again, trying to not influence the purchasing decisions of the consumer.)
• Do not use the term "recyclable" in proximity to the code. (Now I’m wondering what exactly fits their definition of ‘proximity’).
• The code should be molded, formed or imprinted on all containers that are large enough to accept the 1/2" minimum-size symbol and all containers between eight-ounce size and five gallons.
• The code should be placed in an inconspicuous location on the manufactured article, such as the bottom or back, where it will not be obvious to the consumer at the point of purchase so it does not influence the consumer's buying decision. (See! See! They even acknowledge this, I’m not making it up.)

And behold, the final statement from SPI on the issue: “Observance of these guidelines is essential to the integrity of the RIC's stated mission: to facilitate the recovery of post-use plastics. The code was not intended to be - nor was it ever promoted as - a guarantee to consumers that a given item bearing the code will be accepted for recycling in their community (italics mine). Much of the recent legal and regulatory activity surrounding use of the code has focused on uses that have been construed as making such a guarantee. This scrutiny is part of a larger effort by the FTC and State Attorney Generals to crack down on the use of "false and misleading environmental claims" in product marketing.”

And now you know why the numbers are there: to identify resin types for industry use and reuse. That this happens to correspond to information some consumers find useful is a careful line—SPI does not want to be seen as encouraging the use of some plastics over others, as it is an industry-wide organization.

So why is your bottle named Pete? Apparently this stands for Poly(ethyl terephthalate): that's a lot of syllables. And I don't know why it gets parentheses either, this is a fancy science naming process that I know I should remember from Organic Chemistry and I don’t. Maybe I’ll look this up later. Maybe someone smart will put it in the comments. I’m bored with it.

ALRIGHTY! Vanna, show us what they’ve won, what is plastic #1?

Plastic #1 includes Soda bottles, water bottles, some alcohol bottles, peanut butter tubs, cooking oil bottles, and medicine containers. I find this confusing, for the first two are understandably the thin plastic that makes the pleasing "CRunCH CrunCH!" sound when you twist or smash it, but the last two have strong levels of rigidity. Medicine bottles is, to me, sort of vague, and I'm left assuming it means the amber prescription medicine bottles, the sort that one cannot open unless one is less than three years old.

So why did it get the coveted #1 slot? No idea. Maybe it’s related to the fact that items labeled #1 and #2 together compose about 96% of all the plastic bottles and containers used in the United States—and are also the ones most easily recycled into other plastic products. If you’ve got recycling in your area, it most likely covers at least #1 and #2.

And naturally, why would Jesus care about the number on a bottle?
SPI’s blog was even so bold as to state that “One can go as far back as the Old Testament to find references about natural materials used as fillers, adhesives, coatings, and the like. These materials were the precursors of modern plastic materials.” Oh ho! But they’re right, plastic precursors are part of God’s creation—dinosaur bones and tree-gum resins might seem obvious sticky-bits of God’s creativity, but so is plastic themselves, because they come from the mind of the human that finds out ways to make this bit of carbon-chain into another bit of carbon chain that does something different. It is THIS human mind that can be inspired to continue the creative spark of the Big Bang, that joins God as co-creator, this human mind that is blessed with the ability to make new ways of recycling, reclamation and reuse.

I think Jesus cares about the human involved in this, because we are the ones with the power here. We are the hands and the feet of Christ, the ones putting bottles in the green bins, but we’re also the brains and chemists of Christ, the ones who can see a problem, identify it, and fix it.

I’ll just say it: Jesus loves chemists, and petroleum processors, Jesus loves especially those who will hear his call to love the Creator’s Creation. The silly little triangle, and all who see it, matter to Jesus.



1. As of June 2013, 39 states: Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin have adopted legislation regarding the use of the RICs on bottles of 16 ounces or more. Ta da!