As the weather heats up, sellers of recovered plastic and aluminum packaging are seeing flat to weaker pricing for their bales.

Shippers of polyethylene and PET bottles say the value of recovered material remains flat. Materials recovery facility managers note that the price paid for natural HDPE bottles remains stuck at about 30 to 31 cents per pound (price paid at the supplier’s dock for a truckload of bales in the eastern U.S.). The same market portrayal holds true for PET bottles, with bales being sold in July moving at the same price as June (15-16 cents per pound).

Seasonal trends typically affect the aluminum can market, and this year is no different. Midyear prices commonly peak in May, then slide downward as scrap can supplies surge due to higher soft drink and beer consumption in warm weather. That is happening again in 2017, with the current value of cans – at about 65 cents per pound – being off three cents per pound from June and eight cents below the early May level.

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