Overall, the picture looks cloudy for waste plastics prices, including HDPE bottles, LDPE film and PET bottles and fall, which have all taken a tumble in the past few weeks.
Prices for mixed bottles, although stable at the moment, are set to dip as buying slows down again from the Far East. Although the summer period this year saw a boom in demand for imported bottles to help meet pre-Christmas production demands, this is now declining.
Andrew Simmons, chief executive of plastics recycling organisation, Recoup, said: “We are not overly concerned about this drop in prices at the moment as its partly seasonal. Over the last few years, such price drops have followed similar patterns with dips around September and October.
Mr Simmons added: “This has not has a significant impact on prices at the moment, but it is something to look out for.”
However, some major recyclers in the north of England have already begun to feel the pinch. A decline in value has been experienced across areas such as Liverpool and Manchester, with some recyclers paying 10 less for waste PET than a month ago. Clear PET that was bought for 110 per tonne, is now being bought for 100 per tonne, mixed PET that was bought for 60 per tonne is now being bought for 50 per tonne and HDPE bottles are also being bought for 140 per tonne, down from 150 last month.
Some local authorities have also seeing this downturn reflected in the payments they receive. One London authority said that prices seem to fluctuate, although the price which it can get for PET is now “the lowest it has been for sometime.” The authority is experiencing similar trends for the HDPE waste it collects.
Warwickshire district council, which is located close to a major recycling plant, san has several collection projects in place for waste plastics says prices have stayed relatively stable for both HDPE and PET bottles that it collects.
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