Quick Summary
- Plastics sit in seven distinct resin categories—stretching from PET and HDPE right down to PP, PS, and general “other” blends.
- Every single material type carries unique physical traits, which means they don’t share identical recycling needs or processing setups.
- Basic mechanical recycling hits four main steps: sorting scrap, washing out gunk, shredding material, and melting it back to re-pelletize.
- Polyethylene rules the packaging space—HDPE covers your rigid containers while LDPE handles flexible film lines.
- Reliable traceability and consistent melt conditions keep PCR quality high so contamination doesn’t wreck downstream production runs.
Plastic is everywhere, but not all plastic behaves the same way once it enters the recycling stream. A water bottle, detergent container, and flexible shopping bag may all look similar at first glance, yet they’re made from different polymers and need different handling.
Knowing the types of plastic recycling matters a lot. It helps packaging teams pick the right materials, keeps waste handlers from pulling their hair out, and helps everyday folks throw stuff in the correct bin.
That little resin number inside the chase arrows? It tells you what polymer you’re working with, but it doesn’t mean your city will actually take it. It’s a huge headache for buyers who assume a code equals recyclability, only to find out local MRFs can’t sort it, contamination spikes, or there’s zero off-take market to sell the scrap.
What are the Different Types of Plastics?
The seven resin identification categories help identify the plastic resin used in a product. They shouldn’t be treated as a guarantee that the item can be recycled. ASTM specifically states that resin identification codes identify the resin and aren’t, by themselves, “recycle codes.”
| Resin Code | Plastic Type | Common Applications | Recycling Consideration |
| 1 – PET | Polyethylene terephthalate | Water and soft-drink bottles, food containers | Often collected through established recycling systems; requires sorting and cleaning |
| 2 – HDPE | High-density polyethylene | Milk bottles, detergent containers, shampoo bottles, lubricant containers | Well suited to mechanical recycling when properly collected and sorted |
| 3 – PVC | Polyvinyl chloride | Pipes, films, some packaging and construction products | Recycling can be more challenging because of additives and product composition |
| 4 – LDPE | Low-density polyethylene | Films, bags, flexible packaging | Collection and sorting can be difficult, particularly for lightweight films |
| 5 – PP | Polypropylene | Food containers, caps, automotive components, household products | Recyclable where suitable collection and processing systems exist |
| 6 – PS | Polystyrene | Disposable food containers, trays, protective packaging | Recycling can be limited by low material value, contamination and collection challenges |
| 7 – Other | Other or mixed polymers | Polycarbonate, nylon and multi-material plastics | Recycling depends heavily on the specific material and available technology |
These categories are based on the recognised resin identification system. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency lists PET, HDPE, PVC, LDPE, PP, PS, and other plastics within the seven polymer categories.
For a packaging professional, though, the code is only the starting point. Product design, additives, colour, labels, closures, contamination, and whether different polymers are mixed together can all affect recyclability.
What Recycling Process is Followed for Different Plastic Types?
How you recycle plastic really comes down to the specific polymer, what shape the scrap is in, and honestly, how dirty the incoming bales are when they hit your floor.
Mechanical processing is still the main workhorse here.
It’s pretty basic. You collect the waste, sort out the bad polymers, wash off whatever gunk is stuck to it, grind it down, and run it back through an extruder to make usable resin. But anyone managing a line knows dirty feedstocks and mixed formats will quickly reduce your throughput.
Here’s what different types of plastic recycling can look like across the major types:
1. PET recycling
You collect the PET bottles and strip out the trash, caps, and weird non-PET scrap before moving things along. Depending on the recycling system and intended application, the flakes can be further processed into recycled PET feedstock.
Colour and contamination matter here. A stream containing clear PET bottles mixed with other polymers won’t deliver the same result as a well-sorted PET stream.
2. HDPE Recycling
HDPE is huge for packaging teams dealing with detergent jugs, shampoo bottles, home care, and heavy lubricant tubs. The basic plant layout goes from collection and sorting straight into washing, shredding, density separation, drying, and extruding into pellets. Lots of reprocessors sell washed flakes directly, but running them back through a pellet line gives buyers a much cleaner rHDPE feed for new molding runs.
3. LDPE Recycling
LDPE drives film lines, but handling flexible scrap is a real pain. It’s so light and bulky that freight costs kill your margins before you even sort it, and film wraps around equipment if your bale breakers aren’t dialed in. If you get clean post-industrial film streams, though, washing and regrinding them into film-grade resin works fine.
4. PP Recycling
Polypropylene steps right into the same mechanical setup. Sort it, wash off the labels, drop it in the granulator, and melt it back down. Recycled PP can jump right into secondary packaging or auto parts, assuming your melt flow index stays consistent across batches.
5. PVC and PS Recycling
PVC and PS are tough. Additives, weird formulas, and nasty contamination burn up processing equipment, so most standard MRFs just won’t touch them. Expanded PS foam is mostly air, meaning you pay to haul empty space unless you invest in costly densifiers right at the source.
6. Other and Mixed Plastics
It’s a trash-can category for anything that isn’t codes 1 through 6, meaning multi-layer films and mixed engineering resins get lumped together. Mechanical lines can’t separate that stuff. Chemical and thermal setups offer a way out by cooking those polymers back down into liquid feedstocks, which helps clean up the scrap streams standard shredders can’t run.
Banyan Nation’s Role in Plastic Recycling
Banyan Nation focuses primarily on polyethylene (PE) recycling, particularly recycled polyethylene for packaging applications. Its approach connects waste collection, traceability, recycling technology, and recycled resin production rather than treating these as separate activities.
The company says it maps, trains, and integrates thousands of informal waste collectors and aggregators into its supply network. Its data platform is designed to track material through the collection chain, supporting traceability from waste collection to recycled resin production.
At the processing stage, Banyan Nation follows a structured sequence that includes pre-sorting, multiple washing stages, conversion into washed flakes, colour sorting, batch mixing, extrusion, and bagging.
Its recycled PE portfolio includes rHDPE for applications such as hair care, personal care, home care, fabric care, chemical, and lubricant packaging. Banyan Nation states that its recycled PE is made from traceable, responsibly processed post-consumer plastic waste.
This matters to businesses because recycling isn’t only about diverting plastic from disposal. For recycled resin to work in commercial packaging, companies also need predictable material properties, traceability, and a supply chain that can support repeat production.
Final Words
Knowing the different Types of Plastic Recycling makes one thing clear: plastic recycling isn’t a single process. PET, HDPE, LDPE, PP, PVC, and other polymers have different properties, collection challenges, and processing requirements.
For businesses, the bigger question is what happens after plastic becomes waste. Can it be collected reliably? Can it be sorted and cleaned? Can the recycled resin meet the requirements of its intended application?
That’s where companies such as Banyan Nation are working to connect responsible collection with traceable recycling and recycled PE production. Its focus on recycled polyethylene, supply-chain traceability, and consistent resin quality shows what a more connected circular plastics system can look like.