An increase in the number of domestic plastic recyclers in the United States has meant that east coast plastics recyclers are no longer looking to China to set prices.
A report by the National Association for PET Container Resources looking at the US PET market in 2010, said: “Bale prices rose steadily during the early part of the year, levelled off during the warm weather months, and then rose again during the last quarter [of 2010]. Where Chinese buyers drove prices on the west coast, domestic buyers were the price setters on the east coast.
“This was the result of substantial new investments made in both new and existing US reclamation plants, combined with inconsistent buying by the Chinese, particularly on the east coast.”
The report also revealed that there was a 7 per cent increase in rPET usage in the United States and Canada in 2010. While three quarters of this material came from US and Canadian domestic sources, rPET was also imported from France, Italy, India, Israel, Taiwan, China, Mexico, Brazil, Peru and other central and south American countries.
