Recyclable and compostable are not interchangeable, and putting one in the other's waste stream causes real problems at both facilities.
These route to different places and are not substitutes. The recycling loop means the material can be reprocessed into new material. The Seedling means the item is certified to break down in an industrial composting facility — not in your garden compost, and not in recycling. Composting certified items in the recycling stream contaminates it, and vice versa.
Both belong to the Packaging, recycling and disposal symbols system.
Drawn from the visual attributes recorded for each symbol. Only traits the two records disagree about are listed.
| Trait | Recycling symbol | Seedling logo |
|---|---|---|
| Built from | triangles and arrows | plants |
| Enclosing border | Sits inside a border | No enclosing border |
| Colour | Not colour-specific | green |
| Symmetry | radial | vertical |
| Orientation | orientation independent | upright |
| Recycling symbol | Seedling logo | |
|---|---|---|
| Visual form | Three chasing arrows forming a triangle | A stylised sprouting seedling, usually green |
| What it certifies | General recyclability — the material can be reprocessed into new material | Compliance with EN 13432 for INDUSTRIAL compostability — disintegration under controlled temperature, moisture and time |
| Where it should go | Recycling collection, subject to local scheme acceptance | Industrial/commercial composting collection — where such a service exists locally |
| Who verifies it | Nobody — the plain loop is unregulated and self-applied | Independent third-party certifiers (DIN CERTCO, TÜV Austria Belgium) against a European Bioplastics trademark |
| Common misconception | That anything 'green' or plant-based belongs in recycling — compostable plastics are a contaminant in the recycling stream | That it means home-compostable. It does not: EN 13432 conditions are industrial, and many certified items will not break down in a garden heap |
| Geographic scope | International | European standard and trademark; the availability of industrial composting collection varies enormously by locality |
| Relationship (from Symbolwise's records) | Commonly confused with Seedling logo — Both belong to the Packaging, recycling and disposal symbols system. | Commonly confused with Recycling symbol — Both belong to the Packaging, recycling and disposal symbols system. |
Wikipedia · retrieved 2026-07-26
Improved Seedling logo for industrially compostable products
European Bioplastics · retrieved 2026-07-27
Guidelines for the use of the Seedling logo
European Bioplastics · retrieved 2026-07-27
Look at what the loop is drawn on. On a container it marks a place: put recyclable waste here. On packaging it makes a claim about the material itself — and, notoriously, a bare loop is not a promise that the item is collected for recycling where you live. One is a direction; the other is an assertion about a substance.
The Green Dot tells you nothing about whether the packaging can be recycled — it only means the producer paid into a packaging-recovery financing scheme. The three-arrow recycling loop is the one that makes a recyclability claim. Two interlocking arrows in a circle is the Green Dot; three chasing arrows in a triangle is the recycling symbol.
Check for a number. The bare loop claims the item is recyclable — something you can do with it in future. The same loop with a percentage claims how much recycled material it already contains — something already true about it. Forward-looking versus backward-looking, in the same graphic.
Look for a number. Chasing arrows with a numeral inside are a resin identification code: they say which plastic the item is made of and promise nothing at all about whether anyone will collect it. Chasing arrows with no numeral are the Mobius loop, which does assert recyclability. The codes borrowed the arrows, and that borrowing is why the mistake is universal.