GL 71
The pack is green glass. The three glass codes are colours: 70 clear, 71 green, 72 brown.
- Material
- Green glass
- Code
- GL 71
- Family
- Glass
- Defined by
- Commission Decision 97/129/EC
Which bin, usually
Usually the glass bin, the bottle bank or mixed recycling. Where bottle banks are split by colour, green glass goes in the green slot. Take corks, caps and foil off first; the US EPA asks for metal caps to be recycled separately.
Whether this goes in your recycling depends on your local collection; check your council or municipality's sorting guide.
The material
Green glass.
Where you see it
Wine and sparkling-wine bottles, many beer bottles, and olive-oil and mineral-water bottles.
What it does not mean
Blue and other tinted glass has no code of its own in the decision; GL 71 is green only.
The number is the glass colour, nothing more. It does not cover the lid, cork or label, and it does not mean that other glass (drinking glasses, window glass, ovenware) belongs in the same bin as bottles and jars.
Other ways it is printed
- GL under a 71 in a triangle of arrows
- GL 71, GL71 or 71 GL in plain text
Other glass 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 VI: Green glass, GL, 71) — checked 2026-09-23
- US EPA: How Do I Recycle Common Recyclables (Glass: colours mixed, metal caps) — 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.