Recycling and Circular Economy Standard — WIA-ENE-023
Plastics identification codes (PIC) originated in 1988 when the Society of the Plastics Industry (SPI) introduced a seven-class taxonomy of polyolefins and styrenics for sortable post-consumer recycling. Standards stewardship for the taxonomy migrated to ASTM International, where the current normative reference is ASTM D7611-20, "Standard Practice for Coding Plastic Manufactured Articles for Resin Identification." The 2020 revision replaced the original "triangulated arrow" mark with a "solid triangle" recommendation in order to remove the misleading suggestion that the mark itself implies recyclability. The chapter walks the seven Resin Identification Codes (RIC) from RIC 1 PET through RIC 7 OTHER, documents the per-resin density, melt-flow-rate, and contamination test panels, and aligns the WIA-ENE-023 simulator ENUM tokens PET, HDPE, PVC, LDPE, PP, PS, OTHER, R_PET, PET_BOTTLE, CONTAINER, FOAM, and POLYMER_RECOVERY with the relevant RIC boundaries.
The starting premise of the chapter is that the RIC is a "resin identification" signal and not a "recyclability" signal. A package bearing a RIC 1 PET mark is not guaranteed to be sorted and re-pelletized as a single-resin PET stream once it reaches the waste flow. The EU's 2021 Green Claims guidance prohibits presenting the RIC to consumers as a "recyclable" label, and the U.S. Federal Trade Commission's Green Guides at 16 CFR Part 260 (2012, with a 2024 revision in progress) deliver an equivalent caution. Korean law equally separates "resin identification" from "separate collection" by mandating a distinct 12-class Korean separate-collection mark on top of the RIC; the Ministry of Environment Notice No. 2023-83 forces an explicit "difficult to recycle" mark on RIC 7 OTHER containers.
RIC 1 PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate) is the baseline stream stabilized first in this standard. The simulator ENUM tokens PET, PET_BOTTLE, and R_PET model the five-stage flow "virgin feedstock → container → recovery → R_PET pellet → food-contact grade (F-grade)" for this single resin. ASTM D7611-20 §6.2 admits only "polyethylene terephthalate" (IUPAC) or "PET" (chemical shorthand) as the printed identifier; the U.S. practice variant "PETE" is treated as the same resin. The test panel adopted as the baseline is ISO 1133-1:2022 melt mass-flow rate (MFR), ISO 11357-3:2018 differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) for the melting peak between 250 and 265 °C, and ISO 14855-1:2012 aerobic biodegradability as a control.
EN 13430:2004 "Packaging — Requirements for packaging recoverable by material recycling" §4.2 admits a PET container to the recyclable grade only if (a) at least 90 percent of the body resin is PET, (b) labels, adhesives, and inks satisfy the ISO 18604 criterion of "removable in caustic wash," and (c) the colour falls within the colourless-to-light-blue range. The Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR) Design® Guide PET-CG-01 ("Critical Guidance for Clear PET Bottles") translates these requirements into U.S. market practice, defining four critical items: prohibition of PETG or PVC sleeve labels, exclusion of opaque PET, ability to float-separate caps in the food-contact recovery stream, and removability of the wrap label in the caustic wash step.
RecyClass Design for Recycling Guidelines v2.4 (2024) §3.1 applies a four-class European-market grade to the same PET stream: Class A (>= 95 percent colourless PET, full compatibility), Class B (90 to 95 percent or light blue), Class C (80 to 90 percent or tinted PET), and Class D (less than 80 percent or multilayer PET). The PET_BOTTLE token in the standard's simulator routes Class A and Class B as a "green path" and routes other classes as "amber/red." The R_PET token activates only along recovery paths that satisfy the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) Scientific Opinion of 2011 on "food contact-grade rPET," or that have received a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Letter of No Objection under the Threshold of Regulation (1995).
RIC 2 HDPE (High-Density Polyethylene) is the primary resin for milk jugs, detergent bottles, pharmaceutical bottles, and industrial drums, modelled by the simulator tokens HDPE and CONTAINER. ASTM D7611-20 §6.3 admits only "2 + HDPE" as the printed identifier; the ISO 1043-1 abbreviation "PE-HD" may appear as a secondary mark. The baseline test panel is ASTM D1505-18 density (0.941 to 0.965 g/cm³), ASTM D1238-13 melt flow index (190 °C / 2.16 kg), and ASTM D638-22 tensile strength (yield stress 22 to 31 MPa).
EN 13430:2004 §4.3 admits HDPE to the recyclable grade if (a) at least 95 percent of the body resin is HDPE, (b) separation by colour class is feasible, and (c) PP caps and EVA gaskets are sink-float separable. APR HDPE-CG-01 (2023) enforces the U.S. market practice that the stream must split into three sub-streams: opaque HDPE Natural, opaque HDPE Color, and transparent HDPE. RecyClass HDPE v2.1 applies a three-class grade (Class A Natural, Class B White/Light Color, Class C Dark/Mixed Color) to the same stream.
The recyclability of HDPE is usually decided not by the body resin but by label, ink, and adhesive compatibility. RecyClass HDPE v2.1 §4.2 declares the following hierarchy. First, PVC sleeve labels contaminate the entire HDPE stream and are a red-flag item that must be excluded. Second, PP sleeve labels are amber when the colour and density match. Third, paper labels are green, but wet-strength adhesives that survive caustic wash introduce fibre contamination risk and require a sink-float plus fibre screen step. Fourth, UV-curable inks reduce the visual-quality grade of the recovered pellet by one to two steps and are classified as amber.
RIC 3 PVC (Polyvinyl Chloride) is modelled by the simulator token PVC, but the recovery path almost always routes the PVC stream as "red" and diverts the material into the OTHER stream. The recovery difficulty for PVC arises from (a) chlorine evolution during caustic wash, (b) overlap with the PET stream in near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy, and (c) contamination of the recovered pellet by stabilizers (calcium-zinc family in modern grades, cadmium and lead salts in legacy grades). The EU Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive 2011/65/EU and REACH Regulation 1907/2006 Annex XVII §52 restrict the residual presence of PVC plasticizers (especially DEHP) in the recovery stream.
RIC 4 LDPE (Low-Density Polyethylene) is the primary resin for thin films, plastic bags, squeezable containers, and cap liners, modelled by the simulator tokens LDPE and a subset of FOAM. ASTM D7611-20 §6.5 admits "4 + LDPE" or "4 + PE-LD" as the identifier. The test panel is ASTM D1505-18 density (0.910 to 0.940 g/cm³) and ASTM D1238-13 MFR (190 °C / 2.16 kg, range 0.3 to 30 g/10min). The recyclability of LDPE is decided at the rigid-vs-film geometry split: a rigid LDPE container (a squeezable ketchup bottle, for instance) is amber-compatible with the RIC 2 HDPE stream, but a flexible LDPE film (a plastic bag) jams the Material Recovery Facility (MRF) sorter and is routed as red unless a dedicated "film bale" stream exists.
RIC 5 PP (Polypropylene) is the primary resin for yogurt cups, lids, food containers, and automotive parts, modelled by the simulator tokens PP and CONTAINER. ASTM D7611-20 §6.6 admits "5 + PP." Recyclability is decided by (a) the three-way split among homopolymer, random copolymer, and impact copolymer, and (b) Natural/White/Color separation as for PE. APR PP-CG-01 (2024) flags "excessive mineral filler (talc/chalk > 20 percent)" and "excessive EPDM rubber blend" as red.
RIC 6 PS (Polystyrene) is the primary resin for single-use cups, foam cutlery, CD cases, and protective foam, modelled by the simulator tokens PS and FOAM. PS recycling is hard because (a) the volume-to-mass ratio is low, lowering the logistics economics of recovery, (b) food contact contamination is high, and (c) styrene monomer release is a potential hazard. The EU Single-Use Plastics (SUP) Directive 2019/904 §5 and Annex Part A prohibit the placing on the market of expanded polystyrene (EPS) food containers and beverage cups.
RIC 7 OTHER is defined as the "miscellaneous" stream not corresponding to any of the single resins from RIC 1 through RIC 6, modelled by the simulator tokens OTHER and POLYMER_RECOVERY. Resins commonly placed in OTHER include polycarbonate (PC, sometimes containing bisphenol A), polylactic acid (PLA, bio-based and biodegradable), polyamide (PA, nylon), acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS), polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA, acrylic), and thermoplastic elastomer (TPE). ASTM D7611-20 §6.7 admits a secondary abbreviation alongside the "7" digit so that the printed mark may read "7 + PC," "7 + PLA," "7 + ABS," and so on, for up to six secondary abbreviations.
The POLYMER_RECOVERY token models the route through which an OTHER-class stream is depolymerized to monomer or oligomer fragments via chemical recycling or solvolysis and re-injected into virgin-resin synthesis. The International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC) PLUS scheme tracks chemical-recycling recovery via the mass-balance method, and ISO/TR 21960:2020 ("Plastics — Environmental aspects — General guidelines for their inclusion in standards") supplements the calculation of "circular content claims" in chemical recycling.
ISO 11469:2016 "Plastics — Generic identification and marking of plastics products" is the marking standard for non-packaging plastic parts (automotive, electronics, building materials) not covered by the seven RIC classes. ISO 11469 stacks ISO 1043-1 (homopolymer and copolymer chemical abbreviations), ISO 1043-2 (filler and reinforcement abbreviations), ISO 1043-3 (plasticizer abbreviations), and ISO 1043-4 (flame retardant abbreviations) into a marking enclosed in "> <" delimiters on the part surface. For example, ">PA66-GF30<" denotes "polyamide 66 with 30 percent glass-fibre reinforcement."
The automotive industry is the largest user of ISO 11469 marking. The EU End-of-Life Vehicles (ELV) Directive 2000/53/EC §7 mandates the part-marking obligation, and Korea applies an equivalent obligation through Article 30-2 of the Motor Vehicle Management Act and Article 18 of the Act on Resource Circulation of Electrical and Electronic Equipment and End-of-Life Vehicles administered by the Ministry of Environment. The simulator's POLYMER_RECOVERY token activates a green-path branch for single-resin recovery from automotive and electronics waste streams that bear ISO 11469 marks.
The "confirmation" step of identification codes relies on four standard test panels. First, the density test (ASTM D792-20 or ISO 1183-1:2019) decides sink-float separability. The reference density bands are PET 1.33 to 1.40 g/cm³, PVC 1.16 to 1.45 g/cm³, HDPE 0.941 to 0.965 g/cm³, PP 0.895 to 0.905 g/cm³, LDPE 0.910 to 0.940 g/cm³, and PS 1.04 to 1.06 g/cm³. Second, the MFR (Melt Flow Rate, ASTM D1238-13 or ISO 1133-1:2022) gauges the molecular-weight distribution and processability. Third, DSC (Differential Scanning Calorimetry, ASTM E794-06 or ISO 11357-3:2018) identifies the resin by melting and crystallization temperatures. Fourth, FTIR (Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy, ASTM E1252-98 or ISO 24370:2005) and NIR (Near-Infrared Spectroscopy, ASTM E1655-17) drive spectroscopic identification in MRF automated sorters.
The Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP, UK) Plastic Recycling Specifications PRS-101 (2022) recommends a "purity threshold" of 95 percent or more per single resin for the MRF NIR automated sorter step. The simulator's identification step adopts that 95 percent purity threshold as the default for the NIR confirmation panel.
Operators routinely encounter five critical pitfalls when stabilizing identification code operations under this standard. The first pitfall is "mark-vs-actual resin mismatch": a container marked RIC 1 PET is sometimes in fact PETG or PCT (glycol-modified PET); in the recovery flow the difference in crystallization behaviour lowers R_PET pellet quality. Even NIR automated sorting cannot reliably exceed 95 percent separation accuracy between PET and PETG because their infrared absorption spectra are nearly identical. Operators are therefore advised to add a DSC melting-peak confirmation step after the NIR separation step.
The second pitfall is "missing colour-stream separation." Colourless PET and light-blue PET share an R_PET pellet stream, but green, brown, and opaque PET have to be diverted. The RIC mark does not carry colour information, so a visual or colorimeter-driven downstream split is mandatory. The third pitfall is "label, adhesive, and ink contamination": even when the body resin is RIC 1 PET, a PVC sleeve label contaminates the entire recovery flow, and a wet-strength adhesive label introduces fibre contamination into a RIC 2 HDPE flow. The fourth pitfall is "non-compliant marking": cosmetic and detergent containers occasionally print the identification code on the product label rather than the bottle body, so the mark is lost when the label is removed. The fifth pitfall is "chemical-recycling accounting": the ISCC PLUS mass-balance method does not physically separate virgin and recycled feedstock in the same facility, so a nominal "90 percent chemically recycled content" label may correspond to 0 percent at the molecular level. The standard therefore recommends that labelling explicitly distinguish "physical content" from "mass-balance content."
The chapter's identification code operations compose with certification schemes. The simulator's certification ENUM tokens ECOLABEL, EU_FLOWER, CRADLE_TO_CRADLE_CERTIFICATE, OK_COMPOST, SEC, and ISCC_PLUS map to the following schemes. The EU Ecolabel (EU_FLOWER) operates under EU Regulation 66/2010 as a "Type I environmental label" under the third-party certification of ISO 14024:2018. Cradle to Cradle Certified® is operated by the U.S. non-profit Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute and grades products across five categories (Material Health; Product Circularity; Clean Air & Climate Protection; Water & Soil Stewardship; Social Fairness) at five levels (Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond). OK Compost (TÜV AUSTRIA) certifies the 90-percent biodegradability and 90-percent disintegration thresholds of EN 13432:2000.
ISCC PLUS certification has been adopted by chemical-recycling pilots from LG Chem, Lotte Chemical, SK Geo Centric, and SK Innovation in the Korean market, and "circular content" labelling under the mass-balance method is gradually entering the market.
The chapter composes with the following primary sources: ASTM D7611-20 Resin Identification Code, ISO 11469:2016 Generic Identification, ISO 1043-1:2024 Symbols and abbreviated terms, ISO 1043-2:2023 Fillers and reinforcing materials, EN 13430:2004 Material Recycling, APR Design® Guide for Plastics Recyclability (2024), RecyClass Design for Recycling Guidelines v2.4 (2024), WRAP Plastic Recycling Specifications PRS-101 (2022), EFSA Scientific Opinion on rPET (2011), FDA Threshold of Regulation (1995), EU Waste Framework Directive 2008/98/EC, EU SUP Directive 2019/904, EU ELV Directive 2000/53/EC, REACH Regulation 1907/2006, RoHS Directive 2011/65/EU, ISCC PLUS Mass Balance Standard, and ISO/TR 21960:2020 Chemical Recycling Guidelines. [5.99]
The Korean edition of this chapter additionally maps the identification code framework to the Korean separate-collection regime: the Ministry of Environment's "Act on the Promotion of Saving and Recycling of Resources" Enforcement Decree Article 18-2 (separate-collection marks), Ministry of Environment Notice No. 2023-83 (forced "difficult to recycle" marking), the "Plastic Waste Comprehensive Plan 2022-2030," the Framework Act on Transition to Circular Economy Society (2022/2024), the Korea Resource Circulation Service Agency (KORA) quarterly EPR audit, the Korea Packaging Recycling Cooperative (KPRC) EPR reporting, the Korea Environment Corporation (KECO) national resource-circulation statistics, the Korea Environmental Industry & Technology Institute (KEITI) Eco-Label, KS M ISO 1043-1:2023 (Korean chemical-name standard), KS M ISO 18604:2018 (caustic-wash test), and KOLAS-accredited test laboratories.