3 PVC
The item is made of PVC. The 3 and the letters PVC identify the plastic, which matters to recyclers because PVC must be kept out of other plastic streams.
- Material
- Polyvinyl chloride
- Code
- 3 PVC
- Family
- Plastics
- Defined by
- Decision 97/129/EC Annex I and ASTM D7611
Which bin, usually
Usually not the household recycling bin: household collections seldom list PVC packaging, so it usually goes in general waste unless your local list names it.
Whether this goes in your recycling depends on your local collection; check your council or municipality's sorting guide.
The material
Polyvinyl chloride (PVC, vinyl), rigid or flexible depending on how it is made.
Where you see it
Blister packs and clamshells, and flexible wraps for deli products and meat, and bags for bedding (ASTM's examples); also some bottles and shrink sleeves.
What it does not mean
A 3 is not a sign that the pack is hazardous or unsafe; it only names the plastic.
A resin code names the plastic; it is not a recycling promise. ASTM D7611 says resin identification codes 'are not “recycle codes”' and that using one 'does not imply that the article is recycled or that there are systems in place' to process it. That is why the 2013 revision of D7611 replaced the chasing arrows with a plain solid triangle, 'commonly associated with recycling' as the arrows were. In the US the FTC treats a code as a recyclable claim only when it is shown conspicuously, next to the product name; moulded into the base 'without more', it is not one (16 CFR 260.12, Example 2).
Other ways it is printed
- PVC under a 3 in a triangle of arrows
- 3 in a plain solid triangle (ASTM D7611 form)
- V, the older US marking
- 03 or PVC 3
- >PVC< moulded into a part
Other plastics codes
Sources
- Commission Decision 97/129/EC of 28 January 1997 establishing the identification system for packaging materials (OJ L 50, 20.2.1997), as adopted — UK National Archives copy (Annex I: Polyvinyl chloride, PVC, 3) — checked 2026-09-23
- ASTM D7611/D7611M-26, Standard Practice for Coding Plastic Manufactured Articles for Resin Identification — catalogue page (scope, significance and use) (Section 4.2) — checked 2026-09-23
- ASTM Standardization News, 2013: Modernizing the Resin Identification Code (the solid-triangle revision, and what each resin is used for) (Uses of PVC; V as an alternative abbreviation; The 2013 change from chasing arrows to a solid triangle) — checked 2026-09-23
- 16 CFR 260.12 Recyclable claims (US FTC Green Guides), eCFR (Example 2: when a resin code counts as a recyclable claim) — checked 2026-09-23
Written in our own words from these public texts and checked on the date shown. ASTM D7611 and ISO 14021 are sold by their publishers; only their public catalogue text is used here.