Your Business Recycle Pricing - December 2007

RECYCLED RESIN PRICES
	Pellets ¢/lb	Flake ¢/lb
PET Bottles (Clean)
Clear Post-Consumer	65-70	56-59
Green Post-Consumer	54-58	44-48
HDPE (Clean)
Natural Post-Consumer	57-62	53-58
Mixed Colors	44-48	40-43
Post-Industrial	47-52	-
Polystyrene
Post-Consumer
High Impact
Black	52-62	53-56
Natural	60-65	–
General Purpose
Black	43-45	35-40
Natural	60-65	46-50
Polypropylene
Post-Industrial	33-36	33-45
Post-Consumer	51-55	47-52
Polyethylene Film
Post-Industrial
LDPE	43	–
LLDPE
Clear	43-53	–
Mixed Color	27-35	–
PVC
Post-Industrial
Flexible	45-55	37-39
Rigid	60-73	36-47

Recycled products are in hot demand as virgin resin prices continue to escalate. As a result, recycled PS prices have gone up 3¢ to 8¢ over the past year, and recycled PVC in some markets has risen up to 10¢/lb. Still, recycled material remains more affordable than virgin, but it is getting tougher and tougher to find. However, the outlook for recycled pricing and demand 2008 is as uncertain as the future state of the U.S. economy.

 

R-HDPE prices strong

Recycled HDPE prices increased between 6¢ and 10¢/lb over the past year and remain strong. Says one recycler, “We were surprised this Fall that the usual slowdown didn’t happen. Virgin prices continued to rise and recycled resin prices followed along, though not at the same pace. What’s driving demand and pricing is exports—not just to Asia, but also to Europe and Latin America. With virgin being exported, the prices are higher and that has kept recycle demand and prices up. Scrap bale prices are about 8¢/lb higher than a year ago, but sellers of reprocessed pellets are not getting all of that 8¢ increase.”

 

R-PP: driven by exports

Polypropylene regrind has also moved up steadily over the year, for a total of about 6¢/lb. Domestic demand is down, owing to weak housing and automotive sales, but exports are still strong, and they are driving prices upward.

 

RPET goes abroad

Recycled PET prices are up 3¢ to 6¢ from last year. Even though a lot of new virgin capacity has come on stream and more is expected in the first half of 2008, export demand remains strong. Although a seasonal slowing of Chinese demand is normally expected to start in December, one reprocessor said last month, “We haven’t seen a slowdown yet. We’ve heard for years that the Chinese market is going to soften overall, but it appears that China will have purchased more material in 2007 than ever before.”