The runup in commodity pricing for key curbside recyclables over the last 18 months is clearly quantified in the results from surveys of materials recovery facility operators in the Northeast U.S. The Northeast Recycling Coalition has since mid-2019 on a quarterly basis asked operators in the group’s 11-state region for details on pricing for a blended ton of material that they are processing and moving to market. The graph below shows the MRF respondents’ pricing averages. The average value of a blended ton of recyclables nearly tripled for these MRFs from the first quarter of 2020 to the second quarter of 2021.
This article appeared in the October 2021 issue of Resource Recycling. Subscribe today for access to all print content.