Average yearly price of plastic scrap (EUR/tonne)

In Europe, the average price of plastic scrap reached its highest value in 2022, at 467 Euros/tonne. Possible driving forces may be linked to the recent focus of EU policy making on recycled content requirements.

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As the figure shows, the average price of plastic scrap was 334 EUR/tonne back in 2012, while the lowest value was reached in 2020 (247 EUR/tonne) before increasing in 2021 and 2022, reaching the highest value in 2022, at 467 Euros/tonne. Possible driving forces for the changes in the past few years may be linked, among others, to a combination of the consequences of the Chinese ban that started in 2018, to the pandemic starting in 2020, the amendments in the Basel Convention in 2020 and to a conjectured increase in quality of traded plastic scrap. The recent focus of EU policy making on recycled content requirements (SUP Directive, Construction Products Regulation, Eco-design for Sustainable Products Regulation) might also have stimulated demand for recycled plastics, which would influence their price.Looking at ethylene, which features the largest traded quantities among plastic scrap, the average value of “virgin” and waste plastics exported intra- and extra-EU27 show similar trends in 2020-2022 (according to monthly data on quantities and values from Eurostat trade data). As a result, the trends do not seem to be specific for waste but for plastic materials in general.

Being a key feedstock for the production of secondary plastics, the value of plastic scrap is necessarily linked to the secondary plastics market. The price of plastic scrap provides an indicator that is useful to assess the degree of development of markets for secondary materials, as well as the role for intra and extra EU trade in the context of EU waste management practises (EEA, 2022).

A higher price of plastic scrap is expected to be triggered by larger trade flows and can be determined by larger demand for secondary materials or by larger quality (or both). At the opposite, a lower price may be linked to a lower demand for secondary materials and/or a lower quality of the plastic scrap. An increase in trade of plastic scrap may be good news in terms of the circular economy transition, if these materials are used as substitutes for virgin materials and if it does not trigger additional plastic waste production. It also reduces the environmental impacts related to less desirable management practises. The price is also expected to be affected by recycling policies (e.g. current and future recycling targets according to the Packaging and packaging waste directive), as well as by policy interventions taking place outside the EU (such as the 2018 Chinese ban).

Definition

Average price for secondary plastic materials in the EU 27, calculated as the ratio between the value and the quantities of related trade. Plastic scrap includes homogeneous industrial plastic waste, that is used as feedstock for secondary plastics production. High-quality plastic scrap can often be fed directly into an extruder, that produces plastic pellets, without need for significant pre-treatment. Other plastic wastes, such as post-consumer and/or mixed plastic wastes, often need a series of pre-treatment processes to generate a clean feedstock for extrusion.

Methodology

The average yearly price of (EUR/tonne) of plastic scrap is based on values and quantities from international trade in goods statistics from Eurostat (code 3915: Waste Pairings and Scrap of Plastics). The average price is calculated by dividing the total value of Extra and Intra-EU waste exports and imports by the corresponding quantities,, accounting for exports between EU Member States and countries outside the EU, imports from EU Member States (both from intra-EU and extra-EU countries), while the intra-EU exports are not included to avoid double counting. (https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Recycling_%E2%80%93_secondary_material_price_indicator).

value in Euros / traded quantities in tonnes.

Metadata

Source: EUROSTAT – EU trade since 1988 by HS2-4-6 and CN8 (former content). Code HS 3915. https://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/data/external/eu-trade-since-1988-by-1

Unit: Euros/tonne

Temporal coverage: 2012-2022.

Geographic coverage: EU-27