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So all plastics are the same. Plastic is plastic. Right? Wrong.
Of the seven different plastic types, OTHER is marked with a 7.
Professor Crosgrove: "Humans have always felt the need to categorize things. For instance,
there are a series of complicated classifications for the common housefly. Their Kingdom is
animal. Phylum, arthropoda. Class, insect. Order, diptera. Family, muscidae. Genus, musca,
and species, musca domestica.
A lot of work went into classifying and categorizing an insect that, for the most part, is annoying
and worthless. So, you would think, that an equal amount of time would be spent on categorizing
something as important and beneficial as plastic. NOT!"
Currently there are only seven resin codes in use, even though there are a lot more than
seven plastics. I sure would have loved to have been a fly on the wall to see why they
stopped at seven.
Morgan: "Hey. Watcha workin' on?"
Stephen: "I'm just workin' on assigning a code to all the different plastics that are
being used."
Morgan: "Wow. That sounds like fun. How many have you done?"
Stephen: "Uhhmm. Six."
Morgan: "So … we're goin' bowling. You wanna come?"
Stephen: "Yes."
Mr. Scientist: "The resin identification code system was created in 1988. During that time,
a staggering amount of plastic packaging came from the first six. The seventh code was created
and given the name of OTHER. All plastic not PET, HDPE, PVC, LDPE, PP, PS gets marked with
a seven. Things made of two or more different kinds of plastic also get marked with a seven."
Child: "Mr. Scientist, can you tell me more about the chemical composition of thermoplastic
elastomers."
Mr. Scientist: "Well … you see, it's all … it's right here in the book."
Some current plastics that are included in the OTHER category are: phenolic, acrylic,
polyactide, polycarbonate, fiberglass, thermoplastic elastomers, styrene maleic anhydride, styrene
acrylonitrile, polyvinylidene fluoride, plus plenty more.