An unconventional programmed pyrolysis was designed for the characterization of certain plastics, primarily those employed in medicine. The generally employed GC Packed Column was replaced by a stainless steel column containing glass wool, and a programmer was designed to elevate the temperature of the platinum pyrolysis filament in steps. Using a dual channel recorder, the signals from the flame ionization detector were recorded in one channel and the temperature of the filament in the other. The results obtained from the pyrolysis of a number of polyvinyl chlorides and polyacrylonitriles indicated that the method has the potential of providing characteristic “fingerprint-like” peak patterns for each polymer formulation.