Compared with recent months, December has brought stable prices across the range of scrap plastics, with PET and natural HDPE bale prices rising only slightly.
The national average price of post-consumer PET beverage bottles and jars is now averaging 10.75 cents per pound. That’s compared to 10.13 cents per pound this time last month. Some regions are still trading as high as 13.00 cents per pound, with most offering as low as 9.00 cents. PET was trading at 18.28 cents one year ago.
Natural high-density polyethylene (HDPE) from curbside collection programs is also up marginally, now at an average 60.06 cents per pound. This compares to 59.03 cents last month and 56.44 cents this time last year.
For the most part, everything else has remained stable since November.
The national average for color HDPE is still at 9.00 cents per pound, unchanged from November. This grade averaged 26.63 cents one year ago.
Polypropylene (PP) is also unchanged from November, trading at 5.38 cents per pound. PP was 18.94 cents one year ago.
The national average price of Grade A film is down marginally, at 17.25 cents per pound, compared to 17.81 last month and 20.50 cents one year ago.
Grade B film is still 6.94 cents.
Grade C film remains at a low 0.50 cents per pound.
These prices are as reported on the Secondary Materials Pricing (SMP) Index. This pricing represents what is being paid for post-consumer recyclable materials in a sorted, baled format, picked up at most major recycling centers.
For a free trial to SMP’s Online Post-Consumer Pricing Index, visit the Recycling Markets website. You can also contact Christina Boulanger-Bosley at cmb@recyclingmarkets.net or 330-956-8911.
