Food Packaging Symbols
Every mark in the corner of the pack, grouped by what it tells you: material and resin codes, recycling instructions, the green dot that does not mean recyclable, food contact, heating icons and disposal marks. One row each, with the usual misreading named.
Resin identification codes 1 to 7
A number inside a triangle. It identifies the polymer so sorters and recyclers can separate it. It is not a recyclability claim, and ASTM D7611 replaced the chasing-arrows triangle with a plain solid one for exactly that reason: too many people read the arrows as an instruction.
| Code | Polymer | Where you meet it |
|---|---|---|
| 1 PET or PETE | Polyethylene terephthalate | Drinks bottles, clear trays |
| 2 HDPE | High-density polyethylene | Milk bottles, rigid tubs |
| 3 PVC or V | Polyvinyl chloride | Some films and trays |
| 4 LDPE | Low-density polyethylene | Bread bags, film, squeeze bottles |
| 5 PP | Polypropylene | Yogurt pots, microwave tubs, caps |
| 6 PS | Polystyrene | Some pots and trays, foam |
| 7 OTHER | Everything else, including polycarbonate and PLA | Mixed and bio-based packs |
Non-plastics use the same idea in other bands: roughly 20 to 22 for paper and board, 40 to 41 for steel and aluminium, 70 to 79 for glass, and the 80s and 90s for composites such as a foil-lined carton.
The green dot, and why it is the most misread mark on any package
Two interlocking arrows in a circle, usually green, sometimes black on white. It means the producer pays into a packaging recovery scheme in countries that operate one. It says nothing about whether this pack is recyclable, nothing about recycled content, and nothing about what to do with it. A pack can carry the green dot and still belong in general waste.
Marks that do tell you something
- Mobius loop. Three folded arrows chasing each other. The pack is technically recyclable. A percentage inside the loop is recycled content, a different claim again.
- UK on-pack recycling labels. Written as an instruction to you rather than a property of the material, with separate wording for film taken back to large stores.
- Tidyman. A figure putting litter in a bin. It means do not litter. It has never been a recycling instruction.
- FSC and PEFC. The fibre in board packaging came from an audited forestry chain, so these are certification marks like the ones on food brand symbols.
Food contact, heating and country marks
The glass-and-fork means the material may touch food; the microwave, oven and freezer icons are applied by the manufacturer rather than standardized by a regulator, and are set out on food safety symbols. In the UK you also meet Red Tractor on produce and meat, which is farm assurance rather than packaging. In India, the FSSAI logo and license number, the mandatory vegetarian and non-vegetarian dots, and plastic marking under the plastic waste rules. A mark you do not recognize is usually one written for another market.
These marks are artwork, not text
The resin triangle, the green dot and the glass-and-fork are drawn marks, and most are registered trademarks, so they travel as images. Pasting one into a message means pasting a picture. Unicode does hold a plain recycling character, Recycling Symbol For Generic Materials at U+267A, but it renders as a bare black outline and looks nothing like the printed artwork. For characters you can paste, food symbols to copy and paste carries them and food symbols routes the rest.