Businesses around me are starting to dispose of plastic dividers. Without getting into whether that’s a good idea or not, how do I know whether it is laser safe or not. I would love to grab free materials but not if its going to harm me or my machine. One place said they might have the order listing for it, but Im guessing most wont. Obviously only taking with permission but I would still be behind stores or in a back room so wouldn’t have access to any fancy testing supplies.
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I would assume it’s acrylic, but acrylic has a characteristic smell, like a skunk, nothing else smells like that. I would singe a test sample and give it the smell test, and confirm the absence of chlorine by using the copper wire test.
Get a piece of copper wire hot and touch the sample to get some on the wire. put that in the flame of a torch and observe the color of the flame, any green color indicates chlorine, and the material should be avoided.
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There is always the Beilstein test.
And a youtube video;
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also know that if it’s laser safe, it’s almost certainly going to be extruded, not cast (because cast is more expensive). so ok to cut, but not great for engraving.
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more specifically, it tends to engrave clear while the cast stuff turns white.
But heck yeah, one of the biggest issues with getting acrylic last year was all the businesses buying them for dividers so I’d definitely go for it 
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extruded is great for clear box fronts (curio display boxes), model windows, sandwiching (or with stand-offs) over engraved wood-art to keep dust and lint out.
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