Recycling Game -Test your recycling knowledge

Test your knowledge of the three chasing arrows logo!

I think you are going to find this blog interesting and informative and maybe even eye opening. We’ve all seen the three chasing arrow logo on the bottom of most plastic packaging but do you know where it came from or what it means? Before we move into an explanation of those well known chasing arrows let’s test our knowledge of them.

Q1 – Are all plastic containers recyclable?

A – Yes
B – No


Q2 – What does the three chasing arrows mean?

A – The packaging can be recycled.
B – The packaging is made from recycled material.
C – Identifies the type of plastic resin the packaging is made of.
D – Technical code for recyclers sorting equipment.


Q3 – Plastic which is recyclable when thrown into standard garbage will be sorted and recycled?

A – True
B – False
C – Sometimes


Q4 – Which containers are regularly recycled?

A – Single use bottle water
B – White gallon milk jug
C – Carbonated beverage bottle
D – Ketchup bottle
E – Food containers such as for fruit and dairy


Q5 – What is the current recycle rate for PET in the United States?

A – 10%
B – 20%
C – 30%
D – 60%
E – 80%


Ok, so how do you think you did? Well we will find out as you go through the below answers keep a tally of how you did.

Q1 – Did you answer NO? That’s correct, not all plastic are recyclable? In fact, this is where the majority of confusion comes from with recycling. From a pure technical perspective most of the plastics we use can be “technically” recycled; however, the types of plastics which are recycled are determined on the markets available to recyclers to sell the recycled plastics. Today, the primary markets for recyclers focus on a very slim range of plastic types to include mostly PET and HDPE. These are your bottled water, soda, other single serving beverages, milk and other dairy beverages. Plastic containers which are used for packaging such as PET containers for fruit, although it is still PET the same plastic used in single serving bottles which are recyclable when the PET is used in such packaging applications they are not recycled and end up in landfills just like regular garbage. This can be EXTREMELY confusing to those of us whose responsibility it falls to make sure the packaging is being put into the recycle stream over the garbage stream. This brings up another point in that if you were to place a recyclable bottle into the regular trash and not the recycle bin that bottle will end up in a landfill and will not be recycled.

Q2 – Did you know that the three chasing arrows logo does not have anything to do with recycling and is a code used to identify the plastic resin type used in the packaging? That’s right; this logo was instituted by The Society of Plastics Industry (SPI) in 1988 to identify the type of resin used in the packaging. Having that logo on the bottom of the packaging does not indicate that it is recyclable. In fact, many of the products you purchase with that logo are not recycled at all and end up in landfills.

Q3 – Recyclable plastics which are not placed in recycle bins have little chance of making it into the recycle stream and will end up in landfills. To have plastics which are recycled actually get recycled it falls upon all of us to make sure those packages end up in the recycling process. One of the difficulties of this is that most places we go do not have programs established to collect recyclable materials. This is an area that we could easily improve our recycling rates throughout the United States.

Q4 – If you answered A, B and C you would be correct, all other answers could be recycled but are not currently accepted. This is a big area of improvement for recyclers. If we truly want to improve recycling and help clean up the plastic waste on the planet we need to develop much broader recycling acceptance of packaging. This is also an area with lots of opportunity for innovation in developing new markets that can utilize various types of plastic resins.

Q5 – If you answered B (20%) you are probably already aware of the extremely low national recycle rates we have here in the United States. Other countries in the world have the exact opposite recycling rates of that in the United States. We really need to improve these numbers so that we are recycling the majority of our plastics. Not only will it help clean up the plastic garbage issue but it will also help to lower our dependence on fossil fuels. By implementing more recycling collection programs, increasing the plastic resins which are recycled as well as accepting all plastic packaging for recycling, and each of us taking the extra 5 seconds to place plastic packaging into those recycling collection bins we will make a difference for the planet and our children’s future.