6 PS
The item is made of polystyrene, solid or foamed. The 6 and the letters PS identify the plastic for sorting.
- Material
- Polystyrene
- Code
- 6 PS
- Family
- Plastics
- Defined by
- Decision 97/129/EC Annex I and ASTM D7611
Which bin, usually
Usually not the household recycling bin for foam: the US EPA says 'very few localities accept styrofoam in curbside recycling'. Rigid, non-foam polystyrene pots are accepted in some areas and not others.
Whether this goes in your recycling depends on your local collection; check your council or municipality's sorting guide.
The material
Polystyrene (PS), either hard and glassy or expanded into white foam (EPS).
Where you see it
Foam meat and fish trays, foam cups, egg boxes and takeaway boxes, protective foam blocks, and rigid pots and disposable cutlery; ASTM lists protective packaging, bottles and food containers.
What it does not mean
Foam and hard polystyrene share the code 6 but are collected very differently.
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
- PS under a 6 in a triangle of arrows
- 6 in a plain solid triangle (ASTM D7611 form)
- EPS or PS-E on expanded foam
- 06 or PS 6
- >PS< 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: Polystyrene, PS, 6) — 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 polystyrene; The 2013 change from chasing arrows to a solid triangle) — checked 2026-09-23
- US EPA: How Do I Recycle Common Recyclables (Can polystyrene foam (styrofoam) be recycled?) — 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.