Resin reference · Resin code 5
PP Polypropylene
PP cup, sack & pail — Drinking cups, woven sacks, pails, bumpers, crates.
- Resin code
- 5
- Density (g/cm³)
- 0,90
- Water test
- Floats in water
- Accepted form
- Baled · Loose · Flake
What is PP
PP is the lightest resin on this list and the one most often mistaken for HDPE. Its signature is the hinge: a PP lunchbox lid opens and closes hundreds of times without breaking, which HDPE cannot do. In Indonesia PP arrives in two very different guises — clear drinking cups and woven sacks — and the two are sorted apart.
How to identify it without equipment
- Floats highest in water at around 0.90 g/cm³ — the lightest resin here.
- A thin hinge in it bends over and over without snapping.
- PP cups crackle and look slightly hazy, never as clear as PET.
Everyday items that carry it
- Drinking cups and thick straws
- Woven rice, fertiliser and cement sacks
- Pails, basins and plastic chairs
- Vehicle bumpers and industrial crates
What it becomes after recycling
PP flake returns as crates, pallets, pails, automotive parts and fresh woven-sack yarn.
What gets a load of it turned away
- Sacks that held fertiliser or agricultural chemicals and were never rinsed.
- Drink cups still wet and going mouldy.
- Sacks with nylon stitching and paper labels glued across them.
Holding material of this type?
This page covers how to identify and handle the resin. For questions about volume, form, or visiting the yard, get in touch directly.