Sizable Increase Seen in Commodity Values for Q4 2023

March 18, 2024

NERC’s MRF Values Survey Report for the period October - December 2023 showed a significant rise in the average commodity price for Q4. The average value of all commodities increased by 36% with residuals and 32% without from Q3 to Q4 2023.

Data from RecyclingMarkets.net shows increased prices for both Old Corrugated Containers (OCC) and Residential Mixed Paper (RMP). Both commodities steadily rose in price throughout 2023. In the fourth quarter, OCC went up in value by $20 per ton while RMP increased by $15 per ton (RecyclingMarkets.net). Those two paper grades supply slightly over 60 percent of the recyclables processed at the MRFs. This data indicates that those prices have lifted a MRF ton's value.

Processing costs increased by 6.05% from $87.78 to $93.09/ton.

This is the 18th report in NERC’s series of quarterly reports on the market value of commodities from MRFs in the Northeast. The report includes information from ten states: Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Virginia.

These survey results reflect the differing laws and collection options in the participating states. Four of the states have beverage container deposit laws. As a result, fewer glass bottles, PET bottles and aluminum cans are processed in MRFs in those states. Those MRFs are also likely to have less revenue from those recyclables. In addition, the report reflects a mix of single stream, dual stream, and source separation to collect recyclables with single stream being the most common approach. The type of collection used will have an impact on MRF design and operation. Thus, the data from this report reflects the unique blend of facilities and statewide laws in the reporting states.

1Residuals refers to the incoming material that cannot be marketed and goes to disposal. The value without residuals reflects the value of a perfect ton of marketed material, while the value with residuals reflects the value of each ton processed with the costs associated of disposing unmarketable material. Note: In many cases, recovered glass goes to market but at a negative value.

For more information, contact Megan Schulz-Fontes, Executive Director, at megan@nerc.org.

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