RRS analyzed and averaged pricing info from multiple industry data sources – including RecyclingMarkets.net, Plastics News and the London Metal Exchange – to compare the price gap between virgin materials and recycled commodities (baled from the MRF, not processed). The wider a given gap, the greater the technical and market complexities associated with processing materials. Complexities can involve factors such as demand, supply, process efficiency, recyclability and regulation changes. The 2016-2017 time frame was selected because that was a fairly stable period in commodity values.
Data Corner is compiled monthly by recycling consultancy RRS.
This article originally appeared in the August 2018 issue of Resource Recycling. Subscribe today for access to all print content.
In the Portland, Ore. metropolitan area, no municipal recycling program is an island. Each works with its neighboring communities as part of a regional “wasteshed,” sharing diversion goals, tactics and resources.
Today, Penn Waste’s MRF in central Pennsylvania is a very different facility than it was three short years ago (or maybe they were long years, given the challenges the industry has seen of late).