The History of Plastic

Foreword

The History of Plastic is a children’s book that we wrote and created as a prop for the What is OTHER? video in our “What is plastics?” video series. We hate to let anything go to waste … so here it is, for your reading enjoyment (Please note: it was written for children, so please don’t get offended if it seems a bit elementary).

The History of Plastic

There are 7 different plastic types: PET (1), HDPE (2), PVC (3), LDPE (4), PP (5), PS (6) and OTHER (7).

Products made from these plastic types have one of these symbols on them (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 respectively).

These symbols are called resin identification codes.

1. PET stands for polyethylene terephthalate. It has a 1 on it.

2. HDPE stands for high density polyethylene and it has a 2 on it.

3. PVC stands for poly vinyl chloride and it has a 3 on it.

4. LDPE stands for low density polyethylene and it has a 4 on it.

5. PP stands for polypropylene and it has a 5 on it.

6. PS stands for polystyrene and it has a 6 on it.

7. OTHER has a 7 on it, and it is put on everything else.

The resin identification code system was created in 1988.

During that time, a staggering amount of plastic used for packaging came from the first six.

The 7th code was created … and was given the name OTHER. All plastic that is not PET, HDPE, PVC, LDPE, PP, or PS gets marked with a 7. Things made of two or more different kinds of plastic also get marked with a 7.

Plastic is everywhere! And we can use it for so many things.

And it can be used again and again and again.