Plastics are given a number from 1-7 in that recycling triangle on the bottom of the container.

If possible, stick to #1 and #2 plastics, which are the least toxic and the most widely recycled.

Avoid plastic #3, which contains PVCs (polyvinyl chloride). PVC is made from the carcinogen vinyl chloride, and releases an even more powerful carcinogen, dioxin, during the manufacturing process. Very few recycling centers accept #3 plastics, and so they pile up in landfills, leaching their poisonous gases into the environment.

Plastics #4 through #6 are soft plastics and can degrade into your food and enter your body. Try to avoid those as well.

Adapted from Green This! by Deidre Imus

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