Navigating PCR procurement? A new tool could help.

Marissa Heffernan | Packaging Dive • April 21, 2026

The Northeast Recycling Council’s PCR Material Demand Hub centralizes resources to help packaging developers and buyers.


Dive Brief:

  • The Northeast Recycling Council launched a PCR Material Demand Hub to help companies, whether they make packaging or just purchase it, tap into domestic recycled content markets.
  • The hub includes information on numerous materials commonly used in packaging, including paper, plastic and aluminum. While the main focus is recycled content, there’s also information on waste diversion, reuse, carbon impacts and other life cycle assessment variables. NERC hopes to add to it in the future, including resources for creating contracts.
  • For those newer to PCR purchasing, the hub has a road map for getting started, as well as a Q&A on how to identify and buy plastic products with PCR. The hub draws on work from the Association of Plastic Recyclers in that area. 


Dive Insight:

Companies and organizations looking to buy postconsumer recycled content and help shore up faltering domestic recycling markets have a new place to go for support. The Northeast Recycling Council launched the PCR Material Demand Hub to help counteract the recent strain on recycling markets as some brands loosen recycled content goals and resin imports surge. 


Megan Schulz-Fontes, executive director of the Northeast Recycling Council, said it’s the latest iteration of past programs.


“We wanted to create a hub which pools all the resources that NERC had developed historically, as well as new ones that have come about since, to make it easier for organizations, whether they’re private or public, to purchase sustainable materials,” she said.

 

In the past, NERC had worked with APR on the Government Recycling Demand Champions Program, which focused on getting governments, nonprofits and academic institutions to buy recycled materials. By 2022, activity in that program had started to lapse, Schulz-Fontes said. 


“We had done a lot of outreach. It was my impression that it wasn’t a need as much anymore, because those organizations had established sustainable procurement programs,” she said. 


However, markets shifted, most notably for PET, and today, we all “see and feel the impacts of processor closures due to the cheaper imports coming in and the chronic oversupply of virgin,” Schulz-Fontes said. 


There was a need again. As APR relaunched and redesigned the Recycling Demand Champions program and the National Stewardship Action Council started its “Remade in America” pledge, Schulz-Fontes said NERC wanted to support those programs and also reinvigorate some of its own. 


The Demand Champions Program suggests that organizations commit to PCR use, establish long-term supply agreements and think outside the box by using PCR in non-standard formats. To support those goals, the hub has a directory of manufacturers, vendors and suppliers of a variety of products with recycled content, as well as a Recycled Content and Environmentally Preferable Purchasing Directory with all levels of governmental resources, purchasing specifications and certification standards. 


That Environmentally Preferable Purchasing Directory is based on work that former NERC Executive Director Lynn Rubinstein did to develop an environmentally preferable purchasing specifications document, which is helpful for those who are just getting started, Schulz-Fontes said.


In addition, the hub will link procurement professionals and others working in adjacent roles via an Environmentally Preferable Purchasing Network listserv called EPPnet. That’s also one of NERC’s older programs that needed new life breathed into it, Schulz-Fontes said. “We’re hoping that’s something that’s useful for folks,” she said. Anyone who is working directly on procurement is welcome to reach out to be added to the group.


Other directories that NERC’s hub link to are the EcoPaper Database; Intertek’s Sustainability Certification Directory; the Electronic Product Assessment Tool; SCS Global Services Certified Green Products Guide; EPA’s CPG Product Supplier Directory; and APR’s Buyers and Sellers Directory.


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Rethink Resource Use 2026

By Sophie Leone • November 4, 2026
What We Learned in Princeton

Northeast recycled commodity prices rise in Q2

By Keith Loria | Resource Recycling • October 30, 2026
Recycled commodity values at Northeast MRFs increased for the second consecutive quarter as Q2 2026 figures show gains across most materials outweighed a 61% drop in PET, according to the Northeast Recycling Council. In the latest report, average blended values reached $93.03/ton without residuals, up 11.1% from Q1. Including residuals, the value climbed 15.24% to $76.37/ton, NERC said. The gains extended a recovery from Q4 2025, when average values fell to five-year lows of $68.41/ton without residuals and $52.49/ton with them. Values rebounded 22.37% and 26.26%, respectively, in Q1 2026 , though the latest increases came at a slower pace. That late-2025 trough followed declines in OCC, mixed paper, aluminum cans and several plastics grades. Natural and color HDPE were among the exceptions, posting gains during Q4. The new results therefore show a broader recovery in commodity pricing, though PET has continued moving lower through the first half of 2026. PET averaged $40.48/ton in Q2, with reported prices ranging from $8.47 to $70. The resin also declined in Q1, when most other commodities began recovering. Other plastics posted substantial increases. Color HDPE rose 122% to $293.63/ton, while natural HDPE increased 10% to $1,471.31/ton. Polypropylene climbed 72% to $345.37/ton, and mixed plastics Nos. 3-7 advanced 39% to $186.52/ton. OCC increased 17% to $99.21/ton, while mixed paper fell 5% to $45.57/ton. Aluminum cans gained 5% to $2,171.29/ton, and steel cans rose 4% to $221.29/ton. Glass remained mixed. Clear and green container prices declined, brown glass held steady, and three-mix glass carried a negative average value of $37.71/ton, meaning MRFs paid to move the material. The quarterly survey collected commodity pricing from 19 MRFs across 12 states. Two facilities were excluded from the blended average because they marketed insufficient material during Q2 to provide a representative comparison. That calculation included 13 single-stream and four dual-stream or source-separated facilities. Single-stream values rose 12.3% to $91.28/ton without residuals and 11.37% to $74.74/ton with residuals. Dual-stream and source-separated values increased 8.04% to $98.65/ton without residuals and 28.33% to $81.62/ton with residuals, remaining above single-stream values on both measures. Residuals are incoming materials that cannot be marketed and require disposal. The measure without residuals reflects a ton of marketed recyclables; the measure including residuals accounts for managing unmarketable material in each ton processed. Disposal costs increased during Q2, although facilities may calculate those costs differently, NERC noted. The report covers Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Virginia. Collection systems and state policies affect which materials reach participating facilities. Beverage container deposit programs, for example, divert some glass bottles, PET bottles and aluminum cans away from MRFs, reducing potential revenue from those materials. Single-stream collection remains the most common approach represented in the survey. NERC cautioned that differences in collection programs, market access and operating conditions limit how the regional averages can be applied locally. “This data is not intended to serve as a price guide for MRF contracts,” the organization said. Read on Resource Recycling.

Northeast Average Commodity Value Continues to Increase Despite PET’s Sharp Drop in Q2 2026

By Megan Fontes • October 29, 2026
NERC’s Material Recovery Facilities (MRF) Commodity Values Survey Report for April – June 2026 reflects the continuing rise of commodity values across the Northeast after several quarters of decline. Dual stream/source-separated MRFs continued to report higher average commodity values than single stream MRFs. The average blended commodity value increased by 11.1% to $93.03 per ton without residuals and by 15.24% to $76.37 per ton with residuals in Q2 2026 compared to Q1 2026. Single stream values increased by 12.3% to $91.28 per ton without residuals and by 11.37% to $74.74 per ton with residuals. Dual stream values increased by 8.04% to $98.65 per ton without residuals and by 28.33% to $81.62 per ton with residuals.