This little impression is called the SPI code - a number that is given to the package depending on what type of plastic it is made of.
In 1988, with the urging of recyclers around the country, The Society of the Plastics Industry (SPI) established this classification system to help consumers and recyclers properly recycle and dispose of each different type of plastic based on its chemical makeup. The coding system offered a means of identifying the resin content of plastic bottles and containers that are most commonly used by society. Identifying the resin content will give individuals the ability to perform quality control, which will separate them into families of related materials with varying properties that can be engineered to meet the requirements of several applications. Matching the right plastic - with the right properties - to the right application is extremely important in the success of a package and also the product within that package.
In my Packaging101 course, I learned what type of plastic each SPI code represents and where it can be seen:
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| SPI |
Learning about the SPI codes not only bettered my knowledge of the packaging world, it brought several other benefits: showed me the broadness of the plastics family, taught me the properties of different items that I use on a daily basis, and gave meaning to figures/codes that were previously unknown.
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Kind of hard to read the picture you put up, but I want to know what makes the plastic packaging much different. Also, are most worse for us than others? What about environmental impact to produce these containers?
ReplyDeletePlastic packaging is different from all other packaging because plastics are solid in the finished state, but can be molded using controlled heat and pressure at relatively low temperatures, compared to glass and metals. PETE and PVC, seen above, are more worse for you than HDPE, LDPE, and PP, because they can be linked to cancer and be toxic to the brain and nervous system. My next post will focus a lot on plastic's sustainableness, but not all plastic can be recycled - so not all plastic is "eco-friendly".
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