Clearing the Confusion
on Plastics

With seven different categories of plastics, each with an assigned coded number, it’s confusing to know what is safe under normal usage and what isn’t. Further, not all plastics are marked with their code.

The Children’s Health Environmental Coalition summarized the basic types of plastics (under “usage”) in our chart below.

Symbol	Type of plastic polymer	Usage
	PETE or PET (polyethylene terephthalate)	most clear beverage bottles
	HDPE (high density polyethylene)	“cloudy” milk and water jugs, opaque food bottles
	PVC or V (polyvinyl chloride)	some cling wraps, some soft bottles
	LDPE (low density polyethylene)	food storage bags and some soft bottles
	PP (polypropylene)	rigid containers, including some baby bottles, and some cups and bowls
	PS (polystyrene)	Used in foam clam-shell-type containers, meat and bakery trays, and in its rigid form, clear take-out containers, some plastic cutlery and cups. Polystyrene may leach styrene into food it comes into contact with. (Styrene is a suspected carcinogen.)
	Other (usually polycarbonate)	5-gallon water bottles, some baby bottles, some metal can linings. Polycarbonate can release its primary building block, bisphenol A, a suspected hormone disruptor, into liquids and foods

 

In a nutshell, always avoid #3 and #6, and check carefully on #7 plastics, most of which are not safe. With all plastics, avoid heating foods or beverages in them, and be aware that strong detergents can break down the plastic, making it more dangerous. Also, even safer plastics can start leeching toxins as they age.

For more details on the types of products that contain specific plastics, and for important tips you need to know on using plastics safely, see “The Leechin’ Teach-In: A Guide to Safe Plastics in the Kitchen” by Seventh Generation.