Recovered materials processors have received a little holiday cheer. The value of most recyclables moved higher at the start of this month.
Resource Recycling keeps you on top of critical industry trends and brings unparalleled analysis of the evolving materials stream, market turbulence, policy trends and more.
Sign up for our free weekly e-newsletters to receive the latest news directly.
Recovered materials processors have received a little holiday cheer. The value of most recyclables moved higher at the start of this month.
The growing smiles you see among recycling collectors and processors are because of continuing market improvement.
The past few months have seen significant upticks in the value of recovered materials.
The value of curbside-collected paper and steel is down slightly at the start of April, though some plastics have experienced boosts.
As May begins, recovered HDPE bale prices have slid, making operators of packaging sorting plants a bit glum.

Photo credit: Revolution Plastics
A free service collecting LDPE films commonly used on farms recently kicked off in central Minnesota, the latest expansion for a growing ag-oriented project.
Avangard Innovative, which for years has managed commercial recycling streams and sold scrap to manufacturers, is gearing up to play a larger role in plastic resin production.
California voters want a statewide ban on single-use plastics bags, and they’d like stores to keep the fees charged for paper and reusable bags, election results show.
A pair of bills in Massachusetts could have some impact on recovery. One mandates reductions in statewide per-capita waste generation and another requires state government offices to divert a host of materials.
UNICOR, also known as Federal Prison Industries, has shut down its electronics recycling facilities at several prisons across the country, leaving a sizable gap in the U.S. e-scrap recycling chain.
