Dive Summary:
Dive Summary:
- Material recovery companies have been struggling with lower commodity prices over the last 12 months.
- Waste 360 takes an individual look at the paper, steel, aluminum, plastics, and glass markets
From the article
Prices in the recycling commodity markets have generally fallen over the past 12 months.
The downward trend in volumes and prices for recovered newsprint has grown stronger with the proliferation of tablet computers and newspaper apps. Prices for other recycled fiber materials have fallen as well.
“Prices for recycled resins have made relatively large moves down over the past 12 months,” says Pete Keller, vice president, recycling and customer solutions with Phoenix-based Republic Services Inc. “That has to do with the downward movement of fuel prices, which creates negative pressure on recycled plastic.”
Steel and aluminum prices also have trended down in fairly dramatic ways.
As usual, glass is generally unaffected by the turmoil in other markets, with glass prices remaining relatively stable. “Because glass is heavy, it can’t support much transportation,” says Keller. “So glass remains a local market. Today, a growing number of regional secondary processors are taking more and more glass cullet and glass waste from MRFs [material recovery facilities], which seem to be landfilling less glass.”
