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I wished to know the composition of Arizona 1gal plastic jugs that I have. The bottom is stamped PP COMPATIBLE and has a #7 OTHER RIC code.

I understand PP recyclable would be #5 triangle. #7 means it doesn't fit in the plastic recyclable categories 1-6.

They're great bottles and would be nice to reuse for water storage and so forth. Therefore the inner layer composition, safety and leaching become my concern.

It feels and looks like PP, so my guess is it's #7 because of the (polystyrene?) label that is glued right on.

On 1/13/2020, I wrote to hello@drinkarizona.com, which was the inquiry address given at their Contact Us webpage. Below is the letter

Hi,
Can you tell me the composition of your #7 bottle such as the gallon ice tea comes in? Your FAQ page seems to imply it's a special grade of PP, at least in part..
https://www.drinkarizona.com/faqs
I am most concerned what is the inner layer, what is its composition, and whether there are added plasticizers such as BPA and BPS.
Thank you,
X

As of 2/10/2020 I have received no reply.

I do not have a photo of the Arizona bottom handy, but here is a pic of another bottle, this one a 6oz. juice bottle, which is also #7 OTHER and has the same "G" in rectangle logo that appears on the Arizona bottle. Searching this emblem and major bottle manufacturers I was unable to identify the maker and inquire that way.

G-bottle

Update: Here are pics of an Arizona 1g jug: Ariz 1g front Ariz 1g bottom

What are Arizona plastic gallon jugs made of?

UPDATE 2025 April -- The jug now has Triangle 5 PP, instead of PP compatible, and the Triangle 7 Other is still there. 5 and 7 in 2025

Nissim Nanach
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4 Answers4

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Many times manufacturers make bottles from coextrusions of plastics (see... coextrusion blowmolding). Think of blowing a bubble with two or more thin layers of virgin material (without mixing the materials) so the materials lie against each other without air between them. The bubble is the region that will contain the product (when they inflate the bubble interior which is placed into the bottle forming cavity). That is, they select a combination of materials that provide the barrier properties they desire. A layer of Saran (EVOH) is a good oxygen barrier (unless it becomes wet) while PCTFE is a good water barrier. Look at an old plastic ketchup bottle (tomato sauce) and you may see a bubble in the layers. this is a delamination and air has diffused in between the layers and the change of refractive properties makes it visible. This mix of layers (different materials) makes it a non-recyclable 7.

Take a plastic water bottle. Step on it and bend it multiple times. You may see delamination taking place. Look for Newton's Rings. Bands of faintly visible rainblow in the material in places. Separation of layer materials reflects different frequencies of light determined by the separation distance between the layers.

Also, by having virgin material against the product and recycled material in middle or outer layers, they can claim that they are using recycled materials in their container.

Jim Clark
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I can tell you this is a five layer bottle with polypropylene plastic. I was one of the first engineers to use 7 and 5 layer containers for food it was for Coke and Tropicana orange juice. The Arizona ice tea is and extremely well made bottle. It costs much more than the tea inside. The layered bottle was designed to run regrind. As you may know you cannot use reused plastic in a food bottle that touches the food product. So we designed a whole new process to make our product less costly and still use regrind. IN a 5 layer bottle we run virgin material only. Then we use a adhesive layers to glue the nylon which oxygenates so the product is not touched by letting air into the product. If you put red ketchup in a regular bottle it will turn brown. This allows the product to have longer shelf life.

Russell Young
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How about performing a plastic burn test. Plenty of information out there if you search.

Here's one guide on performing the burn test:

https://www.boedeker.com/Technical-Resources/Technical-Library/Plastic-Identification

Or keep bugging Arizona until they respond

GisMofx
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From AriZona Tea Faq page. 08/12/2023 Polypropylene

I’M HAVING TROUBLE RECYCLING YOUR GALLONS IN MY AREA, WHAT CAN I DO ABOUT IT? We, at AriZona Beverages have worked with our plastic bottle manufacturer to make our plastic bottles recyclable and as environmentally friendly as possible. Due to the rigors of our filling process and in order to insure that the product inside remains fresh for as long as possible, we need to use a special grade of plastic in the bottle. Because of this, we are required by law to use the Resin Identification Code #7 on the bottom of the bottle. Before we commercialized this bottle, we worked with the member companies of the Association of Post Consumer Plastic Recyclers to determine how the bottle would affect the plastic recycling stream. The testing concluded that the bottle could be recycled with other polypropylene bottles to make products such as battery cases, sheeting and piping.

Greg
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