Polymer chemistry recycle numbers

The first step in recycling plastics is to sort the plastics by their resin type, or resin identification code. The resin identification code is a number assigned to a plastic product (or container) according to the type of polymers it is made of. While it was once common to directly use this code to identify the types of polymer(s) present, there are now other methods, such as near-infrared spectroscopy or density sorting approaches, that are used to sort mass quantities of plastic samples for recycling. (See Polymer Chemistry for more information on resin identification codes.)... 

Gerald Scott is Professor Emeritus in Chemistry at Aston University, Birmingham, Professor Scott left industry in 1967, after 15 years in polymer research, to accept the Chair of Chemistry at Aston. During his years there, he developed an internationally renowned research group concerned with the oxidative deterioration and stabilization of polymers. More recently, a major research interest has been the disposal of polymeric materials by recycling and induced biodegradation. Professor Scott has published some 300 scientific papers, mainly in the field of polymer stabilization, for which he was awarded a DSc, of Oxford University in 1983, His expertise in the area of polymer degradation has also resulted in a number of international patents for his work. 

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