Get ready for a price rebound. (Recycle Pricing).

The word to users of recycled plastics is: Buy now. While prices of most recycled materials were on the downslide in the last quarter of 2001, there are signs that demand is beginning to stabilize and maybe even recover. The result, almost certainly, will be higher prices by midyear.

R-PS turnaround coming?

Since November, recycled polystyrene prices have fallen about 20%. But with virgin suppliers attempting an increase in February, that could start to change. Processors should not panic, because any upswing is likely to be slow. The startup of AtoFina's PS plant at the end of last year has pushed more virgin material into an already glutted marketplace. "Guys that normally run regrind and mix in a little black repro, are now running straight virgin," says one reprocessor. Nonetheless, industry analysts still expect recycled PS prices to begin inching up by mid-March.

R-HDPE prices still soft

Since November, recycled HDPE dropped about 4cents/lb, but prices have flattened out in the new year. "I don't think prices will go backup as yet because there is so much material out there -- not necessarily in people's inventory, but in railcars just waiting to be purchased. We're looking at a slow first quarter and maybe some recovery in the second quarter," says one recycler.

Yet another recycler agrees that the market has hit bottom and hopes that by spring, demand for pipe will help give the market a boost.

R-PET recovers

Recycled PET is showing the most signs of recovery. By January, prices were flattening out, and recyclers expected demand to start picking up in February. While inventories were still high, R-PET prices actually rose. They gained back the cent or two lost at the end of last year, industry sources say. "We've already seen an increase in orders," says one recycler, "and there is evidence of increased demand coming by mid-March," he reports.

On the West Coast, the Chinese export market looked even stronger. At the dock, baled scrap prices were at 7cents/lb after a December low of 4cents/lb, one reprocess or says. "I hear reports that some brokers have been buying in anticipation of the Chinese New Year season, which runs from early January to mid-February," notes one analyst. That buying flurry out West shot dock prices up to 9.25cents/lb, but industry observers doubt that such a price level can be sustained because processors' inventories are so high.

RECYCLED RESIN PRICES

                       Pellets   Flake
                       cents/lb  cents/lb

PET Bettles (Clean)

Clear Post-Consumer    45-51      35-40
Green Post-Consumer    39-43      31-35

HDPE (Clean)

Natural Post-Consumer  27-31      21-23
Mixed Colors           21-24      15-17

Polystyrene

Post-Consumer
High Impact
 Black                 23-25      13-16
 Natural               24-26        -
General Purpose
 Black                 10-12       2-5
 Natural               22-25      10-12

Polypropylene

Post-Industrial        19-21      15-17
Post-Consumer          21-23        -

Polyethylene Film

Post-Consumer
 Stretch               28           -
 Printed/Mixed         13           -
Post-Industrial
 Printed               20           -
 Not Printed           24           -

PVC

Post-Industrial
 Flexible              32-40        -
 Rigid                 46-66        -