Average commodity prices rose steadily in the first quarter of the year, buoyed by national and regional trends, according to the latest report from the Northeast Recycling Council.
Between January and March 2024, the average commodity price year over year increased by 19% with residuals and 17% without, NERC reported.
The report includes information from ten states: Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Virginia. For this report, 13 MRFs responded, with 69% single-stream and 31% dual-stream/source-separated.
For the first quarter of 2024, the blended value of a ton, not counting the negative impact of residuals, was $111.72, up 17% from the final quarter of the previous year. Including the loss from residuals, the value was $103.15 in the first quarter, up 19% from the previous quarter.
Broken out by single or dual-stream/source-separated, dual-stream MRFs saw higher blended values. Between January and March, those facilities reported a value without residuals of $126.26, a 23% increase, and a value with residuals of $114.86, a 27% increase from the prior quarter.
Single-stream operators reported a value of $110.59 without residuals, a 13% increase, and a value of $103.45 with residuals, a 14% increase.
The quarterly survey also asks MRFs about their processing costs, meaning their costs to sort and sell recyclables. In the first this year, the average of those costs was $85.93 per ton. That was down about 7.7% from the previous quarter.
