GL 72
The pack is brown glass. The three glass codes are colours: 70 clear, 71 green, 72 brown.
- Material
- Brown glass
- Code
- GL 72
- 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, brown glass goes in the brown slot. Medicine bottles should be empty; take the lid off.
Whether this goes in your recycling depends on your local collection; check your council or municipality's sorting guide.
The material
Brown glass, also called amber glass.
Where you see it
Beer bottles, medicine and supplement bottles, and some sauce, vinegar and coffee jars. Brown glass keeps light off the contents.
What it does not mean
GL 72 does not cover the dropper, pump or child-proof cap on a brown bottle, which are usually plastic.
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 72 in a triangle of arrows
- GL 72, GL72 or 72 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: Brown glass, GL, 72) — checked 2026-09-23
- US EPA: How Do I Recycle Common Recyclables (Glass: colours mixed) — 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.