Introduction
This section of the data portal provides a summary of developments in the UK’s recovered plastics market. The data presented here comes from respected, publicly available and regularly updated sources on the internet. By following the link(s) above the graphics you can find out more details on the source of the data and visit the sites to access the full data.
The current highlights and trends are:
Recovered plastic prices
- Natural HDPE bottle prices averaged £386 per tonne in October 2014, up £14 per tonne from the previous month, and down £3 per tonne since October a year ago.
- Coloured PET bottle prices went up by £4 per tonne to £56 per tonne between September and October 2014, £12 per tonne lower than prices in October 2013.
- Mixed polymer bottle prices averaged £91 per tonne in October 2014, broadly in line with prices in September 2014 but down £8 per tonne since October 2013.
- Mixed HDPE bottle prices increased by £8 per tonne to £133 per tonne between September and October 2014, £32 per tonne higher than prices in October 2013.
- Clear PET bottle prices averaged £197 per tonne in October 2014, a decrease of £18 per tonne from September 2014 and £90 per tonne lower than October 2013.
Recovered plastic film prices
- The average price for LDPE film (98:2) in October 2014 was £316 per tonne. This is £4 per tonne less than September 2014 but up £39 per tonne from prices a year ago.
Virgin plastic prices
- Virgin LDPE (extrusion grade) prices fell by £53 per tonne between August and September 2014 to £1,175 per tonne, down £175 per tonne from a year ago.
- Virgin HDPE (blow moulding grade) prices decreased by £52 per tonne between months and averaged £1,104 per tonne in September.
- Virgin PET plastic prices averaged £989 per tonne in September 2014, a decrease of £24 per tonne since August, and a fall of £202 per tonne since a year ago in September. PET plastic prices have fallen much sharper than other virgin plastics over the course of the year.
Plastic PRN prices
- Plastic PRN prices fell by £9.5 per tonne between September and October 2014 to £28 per tonne. In October 2013 plastic PRN prices were £48.5 per tonne.
Plastic packaging recovery & recycling
- In 2014Q2, 209k tonnes of plastic packaging was recycled in the UK or exported for recycling, an increase of approximately 17k tonnes compared with 2014Q1 – this is the highest tonnage achieved within the last year. This includes a quarterly change of 11k tonnes for UK reprocessing (now at 86k tonnes) and a change of 9k tonnes for exporting (now at 123k tonnes).
