The majority of first-quarter earnings calls have occurred, and as always, there’s a lot to unpack. Keep scrolling, or click the company of interest, to get a quick read on what matters most to recyclers.
Common themes
- Higher virgin prices are or could be a tailwind for recycling
- Soaring energy prices affecting margins, logistics
- Urgency to secure supply, hedge against volatility
- North American polyolefins have cost advantage
- Trade flows shifting (again)
- Demand destruction possible but not yet seen
- Recovery from disruptions could take a year from war’s end
- Winter storm in February slowed collection, affected buying patterns
- Slow warm-up for spring affecting seasonal patterns, agriculture
Alpek
- Shifting feedstock PX supply sourcing from Middle East to Americas, EU
- Iran war pushing PET margins higher
- RPET closures part of “relocating” production to “more competitive” sites
- Expect to sell shuttered assets in H2 2026
- Demand largely resilient and not highly price sensitive
- Non-integrated PP production seeing smaller margin gains (4cpp) than integrated producers (7cpp at LYB)
- $70m PP upgrade in Mexico for specialty materials
Amcor
- Moving US headquarters to Miami
- NAM and EU flexibles segment sales volumes fell by 1.5%
- Global rigids fell 1.5%, in part due to US winter storm
- 65% of resin is sourced from North America
- ~70% of business is contracted with pass-through clauses
- ~30% is spot business exposed to price increases
- Maintaining high inventories of raws for customer supply continuity despite higher prices
- Soft underlying consumer demand
Dow
- Dow touts US PE advantage amid Iran war
- Resilient packaging demand
- Rising operating rates, lower inventories
- Optimism for construction improvement amid lower interest rates
- Cited ACC data on near-record March exports and domestic sales
- PE demand still growing faster than GDP
Eastman
- Cites RPET adoption for growth
- Pepsi, others eager to start buying RPET
- Swung production line from Tritan to PET
- Ramping up RPET capacity to support growth into 2027
- Underlying consumer demand still soft
- Durable goods demand still challenged
Husky
- Customers delaying orders amid geopolitical, tariff uncertainty
- Higher virgin PET costs enhance financial rationale for RPET feedstock
- European growth driven by lightweighting, PPWR mandates encouraging RPET adoption
LyondellBasell
- LyondellBasell upgrade to PreZero assets on hold
- Virgin PP is “sleeping giant” with more prolonged upside
- Sales for recycled polymers tripled in 2025
- MoreTec-1 construction continues in Germany
- Scaled-back 2030 sustainability targets
PureCycle
- PureCycle sees long-term upside from Iran war
- Turnaround completed early, under budget
- Record production volumes in Q1
- Two P&G qualifications, more to come
- Plastic Ingenuity to use PureCycle PP for coffee lids
Republic Services
- Q1 recycled commodity prices $120/ton, down $35 on the year
- Currently $125/ton
- Polymer Center volumes rising amid strong domestic demand for PCR
- Iran war a net positive for Republic
- Asian producers rationalizing supply and redirecting output away from plastics
Shell
- CEO signals decision coming on Pennsylvania PE plant sale, restructure
Trex
- “This reflects a substitution dynamic“
- R-LDPE prices lag virgin by several quarters, less volatile
- Virgin PE users wait for sustained higher prices before adjusting
- Arkansas board plant build-out not completed in Q1
Unifi
- Expects military and tactical using Repreve nylon to contribute to $2m uplift next quarter
- Launched Luxel yarn, made with Repreve recycled polyester including minimum 30% textile-to-textile from takeback program
- Repreve Takeback textile-to-textile fiber platform activity increasing in Asia
- Implied increasing traction in Asia for ThermLoop adoption
WM
- Recycled commodity pricing at $69/ton in March
- 80% of commodities stay in US, Canada
- Less prone to commodity prices after lowering MRF costs with AI, automation
- Commodity pricing “creeping” back up amid war
- “Not anticipating significant benefit from plastics pricing right now”
- Two Ontario MRFs “have almost no commodity price risk”
- Financial performance at Ontario MRFs is exceeding expectations
