Confused about which plastics are safer for you and your kids? You’re not alone! Here are the ABCs to help you make healthy choices.
The numbers and abbreviations to the left are recycling codes, which can be found on the bottoms of most food and beverage containers.
Ok to use? |
# |
Type of Plastic |
Common Uses |
Ingredients of Concern |
1 |
PET, PETE: Polyethylene terephthalate |
Bottled water, juice, and Containers for prepared Bottled cooking oil |
Hormonal activity found in some studies, potentially due to antimony |
|
2 |
HDPE: |
Cloudy baby bottles, sippy Bottled milk, water, and Cereal box liners Grocery bags |
||
3 |
PVC, Vinyl, V: |
Lunch boxes Commercial cling wrap If you purchase cling-wrapped foods, remove the |
May contain phthalates, plasticizers May contain lead, which harms children’s |
|
4 |
LDPE: |
Cloudy baby bottles, sippy Bags for bread, frozen Zip-loc bags Consumer cling wrap (such |
||
5 |
PP: |
Cloudy baby bottles, sippy Containers for storing Dairy and deli tubs Squeezable bottles for |
||
6 |
PS: |
Carryout food containers Styrofoam cups and dishware |
Styrene: possible carcinogen, |
|
7 |
Other: Bio-based plastics, which can also be coded as #7 Other, |
Clearbaby bottles, sippy cups, and water bottles Polycarbonate can be colored but is always clear, not |
Bisphenol A (BPA): estrogen-mimicking chemical linked with cancer, changes in behavior, and altered immune |
Learn more about choosing safer
plastics on our other pages: