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Alphanumeric codes (such as PAP, FE, ALU, GL) identifying non-plastic packaging material composition under EU rules, parallel to the plastics resin codes.
Also known as: Material coding system
Established by European Commission Decision 97/129/EC — an alphanumeric material-identification system for paper, metal, glass, wood, textile and composite packaging, complementing (but separate from) the numbered plastic resin identification codes.
Identifies the material composition of a packaging component for sorting purposes — plastics use numbers 1–19, paper/fibreboard 20–39, metals 40–49, wood 50–59, textiles 60–69, glass 70–79, and composites 80–99 — without, by itself, asserting recyclability or recycled content.
Use of the codes is voluntary at EU level under the Decision itself; a claim that some member states have made display mandatory domestically comes from a single secondary source and is not independently confirmed here.
Contexts: Packaging
Related forms that are not treated as separate canonical symbols — see our variant rules.
PAP (20–39) — paper and fibreboard
Codes 20–39 identify paper/fibreboard packaging, e.g. corrugated fibreboard = 20.
FE / ALU (40–49) — metals
Codes 40–49 identify metals: FE (40) for steel, ALU (41) for aluminium.
GL (70–79) — glass
Codes 70–79 identify glass by colour, e.g. colourless = 70, green = 71, amber/brown = 72.
A short combination of letters and a number (for example 'PAP 21' or 'FE 40'), sometimes shown inside a triangular arrows symbol.
Both belong to the Packaging, recycling and disposal symbols system.