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Engineer Standing and looking back The plastic bottle in the recycling industry
By Sam Lovatt, Editor – Recycling at ICIS
Waste plastic bale prices in Italy have jumped in the past month, while high density polyethylene (HDPE) bales sold at the Spanish Ecoembes auction have also seen a significant price increase. The price rises come alongside comparatively stable prices in northwest Europe (NWE), creating a large disparity between the two regions and placing significantly more pressure on the margins of recyclers sourcing material from southern Europe. While higher virgin prices give many recycled pellet sellers more room to negotiate, whether they will be able to pass higher costs on to end users in full remains to be seen.
● Significant price rises seen for multiple bale types across Italy and Spain ● NWE and southern Europe bale markets “like Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde” ● Questions remain over whether recyclers will be able to pass on higher costs to end users
HDPE post-consumer bale prices in Italy jumped to around €600/tonne ex works in the auction held towards the end of March, up from close to €300/tonne in February.
Polypropylene (PP) bales, which have recently sold in the region of €0-10/tonne ex works, were heard priced as high as €130/tonne, a ten-fold increase month on month (Italian auction prices are not confirmed by the auctioneers).
PET bale prices, which ICIS unofficially tracks, also saw sharp price rises, as shown in the graph below.
Several factors support higher prices. Italian HDPE bales typically contain a relatively high proportion of natural and white material when compared with other sources in the region, making them more valuable to packaging grade pellet producers.
And HDPE bale supply at the auction appears to have tightened systemically, with volumes available at each auction so far this year heard to have been at least 1,000 tonnes lower than was seen in the same period last year.
Why bale supply has decreased is not completely clear, though some point to macroeconomic conditions leading to a drop in discretionary spending and buyers seeking to get the most out of each product they purchase.
“When we process HDPE, until two years ago, when we wash it we got a lot of foam,” says one recycler that sources material from Italy. “Why? Because people didn’t finish the product, maybe at the end of the product there is some left. Now, because people have less cash to spend, they optimize everything, [they put] a bit of water inside the bottle, rinse it out, they want to finish the material… we now have less foam, we don’t find it in the product.”
For these reasons, players across the markets expected price rises, but many, particularly in the PET bale market, questioned the reasoning behind such large jumps when the volume of material available was at similar levels to the previous month.
Elsewhere in southern Europe, while not as sharp, increases have also been seen at the quarterly Ecoembes auction for post-consumer HDPE in Spain. The average mixed colored bale price rose to €243/tonne ex works for Q2, up from an average of €194/tonne in Q1.
When compared with comparatively stable prices in NWE, “it’s like Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde with NWE and southern Europe” says one bale buyer that operates across the continent.
Post-industrial and post-consumer PP bales in NWE have seen moderate price rises since February due to increasing seasonal demand, as is expected in the spring time, though these pale in comparison to the jumps heard in Italy. HDPE bale prices in NWE, meanwhile, have held stable so far in 2026.
In the rPET market, there are concerns that some bale sellers in other regions may try to replicate the size of increases seen in Italy during April, but buyers would look to resist such large increases, especially as availability is not significantly tight.
RECYCLERS NEED TO PASS ON HIGHER COSTS
The higher bale prices come at the same time as the Iran war has sent virgin polymer prices soaring, giving a lot more room for recycled pellet sellers to negotiate while still offering a cost saving.
But, while some markets such as rPP are seeing good seasonal demand, underlying buying appetite remains relatively low and war-induced energy and feedstock supply disruption threaten to reduce it further in the near future. Whether recyclers will be able to pass on higher costs to end users remains to be seen.
For now, new, higher prices are “still probably manageable [when] compared with virgin,” says one Italian recycler. “The question is ‘what will be the trend?'”