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Recycling marks, material codes, handling instructions and conformity marks.
Packaging carries several unrelated systems at once and they are easy to confuse. A resin identification code inside a chasing-arrows triangle identifies the plastic and is not a promise that it is recycled locally. A Green Dot means a producer paid into a recovery scheme, not that the pack is recyclable. Conformity marks like CE indicate a declaration against a regulation rather than a quality assessment.
The chasing-arrows triangle is the single most misread mark in this setting. It identifies material; it does not tell you what your council will take.
These records say so themselves — the setting appears in the symbol's own reviewed description or in one of its documented meanings.
A warning about a child's age.
Its visual description places it there: “…of a young child, with an age figure, printed on the packaging beside a written warning”
A seedling, and a condition.
Its visual description places it there: “…scheme's name and a certificate number, printed on the packaging”
A letters-and-numbers marking showing a medicine's controlled-drug schedule.
Its visual description places it there: “…upright strokes, printed inside a ruled box on packaging”
Small pictograms for oven, hob, microwave and grill.
Its summary places it there: “Cooking instructions on packaging use small pictograms for oven, hob, microwave…”
A wine glass and a fork, marking material safe for food contact.
Its a documented meaning places it there: “…into the base of plastic containers and printed on the packaging of cling film, storage boxes, food bags and single-use…”
A leaf, sprig or green swirl used on packaging with no scheme or definition behind it.
Its description places it there: “A leaf, sprig or green swirl used on packaging with no scheme or definition behind it”
Category marks on a coded bag.
Its visual description places it there: “…a material name written beneath it, printed on packaging, and a coloured bag carrying a district name…”
A capital or lower-case L, the symbol for the litre.
Its a documented meaning places it there: “Appears on packaging as L, l or ml for volume declarations, and is…”
An open jar with a number and M, giving months of use after opening.
Its summary places it there: “…and it is quite separate from any expiry date on the packaging”
A bin marked with the recycling loop, showing where to deposit recyclables.
Its summary places it there: “…which is precisely the confusion the mobius loop on packaging causes”
Latin abbreviations giving the dosing instructions on a prescription.
Its summary places it there: “…a prescription that becomes the instruction on the label, and it has traditionally been written in Latin…”
The letters STERILE with EO beside them in a rounded box.
Its summary places it there: “…sterilised with ethylene oxide gas, and the method is on the label because it matters: EO leaves residues that are…”
A figure putting litter in a bin.
Its visual description places it there: “…to place an object into a bin, printed small on packaging”
A stick-figure pictogram of a person putting litter into a bin, a UK-trademarked anti-littering mark that also appears informally on packaging worldwide.
Its description places it there: “…anti-littering mark that also appears informally on packaging worldwide”
A superscript 'TM' (™), used to indicate a claimed but not necessarily registered trademark.
Its a documented meaning places it there: “Is seen on packaging, in advertising, in the first prominent use of…”
These carry an editorial context assigned during review that places them here.
Showing the 48 most firmly placed of 94. Browse by domain to see every symbol in the catalogue.
Brazil's radio equipment approval.
Brazil's health product registration.
Longer bars marking a barcode's edges and centre.
Blank margin required either side of a code.
Letters and numbers naming a cell's physical size and chemistry.
A trefoil of overlapping circles, designed to be instantly recognisable as a warning for biological hazards.
An exploding bomb on an orange diamond.
A flame on a red diamond, for flammable gas.
A gas cylinder on a green diamond.
A skull and crossbones on a white diamond.
A flame on a red diamond, for flammable liquid.
A flame on a blue diamond, for water-reactive material.
A flame on a red-and-white striped diamond.
A flame on a half-white, half-red diamond.
A flame on a half-red, half-yellow diamond.
A flame over a circle on a yellow diamond.
A biohazard symbol on a white diamond.
A skull and crossbones on a white diamond.
A trefoil on a diamond, with a category bar.
Liquids burning a hand and a surface, on a split diamond.
Vertical stripes above a plain lower half.
A number or letter that is a manufacturer's code, not a measurement.
Four percentages naming a colour in printing inks.
A dense barcode with three character sets.
A measurement in inches or centimetres, unlike most garment sizes.
A boxed figure verifying the whole code.
Three letters identifying the container's owner.
Six figures identifying the individual box.
Four characters giving dimensions and kind.
A capital C inside a circle (©), used to indicate a claim of copyright in a work.
Venezuela's standards seal.
Vietnam's regulated-product mark.
A metal plate certifying a container's structure.
A matrix code with an L-shaped finder.
A thermometer in a triangle, for a hot load.
A retained placard on an emptied unit.
A hatched-border square with a class number.
A warning about how cloth burns.
A bordered notice on a fumigated unit.
An image of a substance corroding a surface and a hand, in a red-bordered diamond — the GHS symbol for corrosive hazard.
A black image of a dead fish and tree in a red-bordered diamond, the GHS symbol for aquatic/environmental hazard.
A black exclamation mark in a red-bordered diamond, the GHS symbol for lower-level health/physical hazards or irritation.
A black exploding-bomb icon in a red-bordered diamond, the GHS symbol for explosive hazard.
A black flame above a black circle in a red-bordered diamond, the GHS symbol for oxidizing hazard.
A black flame icon in a red-bordered diamond, the GHS symbol for flammable hazard.
A black gas cylinder icon in a red-bordered diamond, the GHS symbol for gases under pressure.
A black human silhouette with a starburst on the chest, in a red-bordered diamond — the GHS symbol for serious, longer-term health hazards.
A black skull and crossbones in a red-bordered diamond, the GHS symbol for acute toxicity.
These belong to a system or a curated family that lives here. A laundry care symbol is met on a clothing label whether or not its own wording happens to say so.
Showing the 48 most firmly placed of 124. Browse by domain to see every symbol in the catalogue.
An allergen name set apart in the ingredients.
Bold or otherwise emphasised words in an ingredients list, marking allergens.
A black octagon: high in sugars.
A black octagon: high in calories.
A black octagon: high in saturated fat.
A black octagon: high in sodium.
Two curved arrows with the letters ALU, marking aluminium packaging.
A capital B in a circle above the word Certified.
A code identifying which production run a product came from.
A chemical symbol printed under a crossed-out bin.
A crossed-out wheeled bin symbol, sometimes marked with Pb, Cd or Hg, required on batteries under EU law to signal separate collection.
Two date marks meaning quite different things.
An informal, uncertified leaf or sprout-style icon marketing a product as biodegradable — unlike the certified Seedling logo, with no fixed graphic or independent standard behind it.
A blue figure with outstretched arms inside a ring of laurel, Germany's environmental label.
A lens on a black bar.
Day or date labels printed on a blister pack, one per dose.
A footprint outline, usually with a figure, stating a product's emissions.
The letters CE in a defined geometric form, declaring conformity in the EEA.
A cross in a circle marking where a package balances.
An instruction to press and turn a closure.
The letters CCC in a rounded frame.
A graded bar chart on an orange ground.
Ten rings around a mountain and sun.
A bud and sun in a circle.
A seed device in a green roundel.
A droplet cupped in two hands.
A green gradient plate one character longer.
A certification mark for compostable material.
A rectangle warning of caffeine.
A rectangle warning of sweeteners.
A statement of where a product was made or last changed.
An ear of wheat struck through inside a circle.
An ear of wheat crossed through, marking a certified gluten-free product.
A rabbit device certifying no animal testing.
A purple label with a cell in division, marking hazardous drugs.
Plates or glasses under falling water, indicating dishwasher use.
An instruction against refreezing thawed food.
A crossed-out box on a box, forbidding anything placed on top.
A blue-circle ISO 7010 safety sign showing a person disposing of litter in a bin, instructing use of a litter bin in workplaces and public spaces.
Bars of varying width encoding a product number.
A leaf, or the letters ECO: longer, cooler, and the tested setting.
A code stamped on a shell.
A digit, a country code and a farm number on each shell.
A machine-readable code linking to a product record.
A star inside a stylised label outline, marking energy-efficient products.
A stylised letter e beside a net quantity.
A flower whose petals are the twelve stars of the European flag, marking reduced environmental impact.
A ladder of coloured arrows from green to red, grading a product's energy efficiency.
If you can describe what you saw as well as where, say both: “winged skull on a gravestone” narrows a list of 233 to a handful.