Recycled HDPE bale prices rise in October after a flat September

The national average price for natural post-consumer HDPE rose to 40.25 cents per pound in October, up from 36.50 cents in September, Resource Recycling reported on 14 October. The figures come from the Secondary Materials Pricing index and cover sorted, baled material collected at most major US recycling centres.

The numbers

Coloured HDPE moved up too, reaching 11.13 cents per pound from 8.66 cents a month earlier. Post-consumer polypropylene climbed to 7.19 cents from 6.06 cents. The report gives no reason for the increases.

The year-on-year picture is mixed. Natural HDPE is still below the 44.63 cents it fetched a year ago, while coloured HDPE has more than tripled from 3.25 cents over the same period. PET was the weak spot, slipping to 2.53 cents and remaining at low levels.

Context from September

The October rise follows a quiet month. In September's update, natural HDPE edged down to 36.50 cents from 37.25 cents in August, while coloured HDPE rose from 6.44 cents to 8.66 cents. That makes October's move in natural HDPE the first meaningful increase in this run of data, and coloured HDPE's second rise in a row.

Why pipe makers watch this

Recycled HDPE matters mainly to makers of gravity-flow pipe. The Plastics Pipe Institute has said that post-consumer recycled material can in practice only be used in non-pressure applications, such as corrugated drainage, culverts and agricultural drain tile, with pressure pipe relying on resins vetted for that use. ASTM now has a dedicated specification, F3556-24, for corrugated non-pressure PE pipe with recycled content. So for drainage producers these bale prices are a real input cost, while pressure pipe makers will feel little direct effect.

One month of index data is not a trend, and the series covers bale prices rather than washed flake or pellet. Still, rising bale prices tend to feed through to reprocessors and then to the buyers of recycled resin. In our view, producers with high recycled content in their mix could feel some cost pressure if the increase holds into the winter.

The bigger picture

Recycled resin is one of several inputs worth watching this autumn, alongside virgin PE supply (see this week's Westlake ruling) and municipal demand. For now, the moves are modest, and coloured material is rising from a very low base.