Nearly across the board, October has brought higher prices for bales of scrap plastics. 
The national average price of post-consumer PET beverage bottles and jars is up again this month. PET is now averaging 8.80 cents per pound, compared with 7.41 cents per pound this time last month. Some regional contracts are still yielding as high as 12.00 cents per pound. This grade has now reached levels of one year ago, when it was trading at 8.50 cents per pound.
Similarly, natural high-density polyethylene (HDPE) from curbside collection programs has moved up and is now averaging 25.13 cents per pound. This compares with 23.75 cents last month and 44.56 cents this time last year.
Color HDPE has followed natural. This grade is now averaging 12.38 cents per pound, compared with 9.91 cents last month and 6.41 cents one year ago.
Polypropylene (PP) is now trading at 5.06 cents per pound, compared to 5.00 cents last month. PP was 8.38 cents one year ago.
The national average price of Grade A film dropped from 14.75 to 13.88 cents per pound. It traded at 19.50 cents one year ago.
Grade B film remains unchanged at 6.88 cents.
Grade C film remains at a nominal 0.13 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 (http://www.recyclingmarkets.net). You can also contact Christina at or call 330-956-8911.