We had to ask the experts to figure this one out. The answer for these containers is “not yet.” The markets for PET are typically bottle to bottle or polyester fiber for clothing and carpeting. In bottle to bottle, a clear water bottle can be flaked and made into new clear bottles, green to green or used for strapping. These blue thermoform recycled-content containers would not be recycled in a bottle plant due to their color, nor would they be recycled in a polyester plant because they are a thermoform. There’s hope, but we’re not able to recycle these yet.

This is an example of how relying on the numbers on plastics is not a reliable indicator of whether or not something is recyclable. That’s why we focus on the shape – bottles, jugs, jars and tubs.