The 2021 recycling market review

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Mixed plastics
Mixed plastics

This special article looks at some of the key stats in the 2021 recycling market.

It is based on REB Market Intelligence prices.

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Paper recycling

OCC started the year at £95 per tonne, and ended it at £125 per tonne. The highest price recorded by REB Market Intelligence was £157 on both 12 March and 27 August, while the lowest was £95 at the beginning of 2021. The average price throughout the year was £135 per tonne.

News and pam started 2021 at £67 per tonne, and ended the year at £142 per tonne. The highest price achieved was £155 from 1 October to 29 October, but the lowest was what it started the year on – £67. The average price across 2021 was £128.

Mixed paper was priced at £48 per tonne on 8 January (this was also the lowest price seen this year) and was at £98 per tonne last Friday. Mixed peaked at £120 per tonne 26 March and 9 April and also 3 September and 24 September. The average price was £100.

Plastic recycling

PET bottles were priced at £255 per tonne on 8 January. By 23 April, they had dropped to the lowest price of £180. But as the rest of the year went on the trend was upwards, ending 2021 with £390 per tonne – the highest price of the year. The average price was £272 per tonne.

HDPE bottles began 2021 at £430 per tonne, and had trended to its lowest of £380 on 23 April. Like PET, HDPE bottles then tended to go upwards for the rest of the year reaching a high of £685 per tonne last week. The average price was £505 per tonne.

LDPE 98/2 film began the year at its lowest of £230 per tonne, which it recovered from before slumping back to this total between 19 and 26 February. From there it jumped up rapidly pricing between £330 to £365 per tonne from Spring into Autumn. But from the end of October the price started rising again, reaching its highest price of the year of £435 on 3 December – a price it remained at to finish the year on last Friday. The average price was £339 per tonne.

Metal recycling

Starting with cans, aluminium UBCs began the year at £800 per tonne, a figure also seen as a low on 5 March. The high for the year was £1250 seen between 12 November and 3 December. The average price for the year was £973 per tonne.

Steel cans were priced at £180 per tonne on 8 January, which was the lowest price of the year and was not repeated again in 2021. The high of £250 per tonne was seen on 21 May and lasted until 13 August. The final price of the year was £240, which was first seen on 22 October and remained unchanged for the remainder of the year. The average price was £230 per tonne.

In industrial metals, dry bright wire copper began 2021 £4,825 per tonne and ended it on £6,100. Its lowest price of the year was £4,600 per tonne seen on 29 January and 26 March. The highest price was £6,400 on 26 November. This year’s average was £5,862 per tonne.

Brass started this year with a low price of £2,400 after which the trend was generally upwards reaching a high of £3,550 per tonne on 22 October. It finished the year on £3,450 per tonne, above its annual 2021 average of £3,045 per tonne.

Aluminium taint/tabor was at £1,450 on 8 January, but registered its low for the year of £1,425 on 26 March. The high of £2,350 per tonne was recorded on 17 September. For most of the rest of the year, it was £2,250 per tonne, which it ended 2021 on also. This year’s average price was £1,989.

HMS 1 steel began 2021 with a price of £195 per tonne. The lowest price was £190 per tonne on 26 March, and the high was £240 per tonne 21 May and 13 August. It ended the year on £230 per tonne – a price it had been at since 22 October. The average price was £221 per tonne.

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