Glass
The glass sector is under a lot of pressure at the moment, particularly due to cheaper imports from the EU flooding the UK market and the cheap production cost of virgin cullet.
Prices have come down further this month amongst these challenging conditions. Bottle has seen less of a decrease than MRF glass due to slightly more favourable conditions.
It is unlikely that this situation will change in the near future, with Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) likely to add further pressure.
View our more detailed glass price index here.
Metals
The metals markets have remained relatively steady through August, with ferrous prices continuing their extended period of stability. Non-ferrous grades have generally seen a slight uplift, although batteries and stainless steel solids prices continue to dip. Zinc, lead and aluminium values have held firm.
Within the cans market, aluminium has benefited from strong domestic demand, helping to provide some buoyancy over the course of the month.
By contrast, steel can demand remains weak – particularly domestically. Ongoing overcapacity in the sector continuing to weigh on prices.
View our more detailed metal price index here.
Organics
The organics markets remain steady.
View our more detailed organics price index here.
Plastics
The market has been quite quiet this month as is usual for August and prices have dropped slightly for some grades.
This has been linked to an abundance of material in the market, particularly with regards to PET, for which demand typically falls at this time of year. This has also started to put downward pressure on mixed bottle prices. The situation has been compounded by seasonal factory shutdowns alongside a number of permanent recycling facility closures, including, as recently announced, Viridor’s Rochester facility.
Plastics recycling in general is not being helped by the low virgin polymer price which is putting margins under pressure. The plastics PRN continues to provide price support and remains steady at around £150/t.
View our more detailed paper price index here.
Textiles
The textiles sector continues to face challenging market conditions with poor quality material flooding the market, high collection and shipping costs, and low demand from export countries.
One of our contacts said that the market “has never been as bad as it is at the moment”.
Despite these conditions, the market did not see much change between July and August – with only HWRC textile banks and charity shop collections seeing a decrease.
View our more detailed textiles price index here.
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