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On the bottom of almost every plastic thing you own there is a small number, from 1 to 7, inside a triangle.
Almost everyone reads it wrongly.
What does that number tell you?
The standard that defines these codes states directly that they are not recycle codes, and that using one does not imply the item is recycled or that any system exists to process it.
The original symbol put the number inside three chasing arrows — the universal recycling mark.
A material label wearing a recycling symbol. People read it exactly as you would expect.
The standard was later changed to specify a solid triangle instead, precisely because consumers were reading the arrows as a promise.
Both versions are still out there on things already made.
Sorting. Different plastics melt at different temperatures and cannot be reprocessed together.
The number helps whoever sorts the material. It was never addressed to you.
Recyclers. It is a note from the manufacturer to the sorting facility, printed where a shopper happens to see it.
Not the number. Whether your local facility accepts that plastic, whether there is a buyer for the material, and whether it is clean enough.
The same tub with the same number is recyclable in one town and not the next.
A number moulded into plastic in a factory cannot know that.
What can that number tell you?
Tap an item, then a bucket
Putting something in a recycling bin is a request, not an outcome. It still has to be sorted, sold, and reprocessed.
Rates vary enormously between materials.
Check what your own service accepts, because that is the only thing that decides it. The list is usually short and specific.
The number is a clue for finding your item on that list, not an answer by itself.
Not to feel bad about a bin. Because a symbol that looks like a promise, and is not one, changes what people buy.
That is the part worth seeing clearly.