ASTM Int'l to Adapt SPI Resin Identification Codes as Standard - ASTM WK20632
July 22, 2008 // Published as a news service by IHS
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ASTM International is working on a standard that is designed to facilitate more efficient recycling of a variety of post-consumer plastics, according to the organization.
ASTM WK20632 - Practice for Marking Plastic Products for Identification in Reuse and Recycling is based on an original system developed in 1988 by the Society of the Plastics Industry Inc. (SPI), which offered a means of identifying the resin content of bottles and rigid containers.
Since its development, 39 states adopted legislation on use of resin identification codes that is consistent with the SPI code, said ASTM International.
In addition, the code is in use in China and the U.K., as well as being recommended by the British Plastics Federation and PlasticsEurope (formerly the Association of Plastics Manufacturers in Europe).
While originally intended to aid in recycling of post-consumer plastic bottles and rigid containers, use of the SPI code expanded to potentially include packaging films and finished products that are reusable and/or recyclable.
The purposes of the original SPI code were to:
- Provide a consistent national system to facilitate recycling of post-consumer plastics.
- Target plastic containers.
- Offer a means of identifying the resin content of bottles and containers commonly found in the residential waste stream.
- Provide coding for the six most commonly found resin types with a seventh category created for all other types not found within codes 1-6.
ASTM WK20632 will expand on the original SPI system by providing for additional codes for resin types not covered in codes 1-6, potentially adding to the list of materials currently available for recycling.
In addition to expanding the range of material covered, the proposed ASTM standard will allow for containers to be coded with numbers as they stand in the original SPI code and/or the "zero plus number" (for example, 01) system that is used in similar coding systems in the U.K. and China.
ASTM WK20632 is under the jurisdiction of Subcommittee D20.95 on Recycled Plastics, part of ASTM International Committee D20 on Plastics.
Source: ASTM International.