rPET, rHDPE and rPP: which recyclate goes where, and why the prices differ
Three recyclates, three price levels, and a spread that has more to do with colour than with polymer. A guide to matching grade to application.
Category
Category: Plastic Recycling
Guides and news about plastic recycling processes and technologies
Two weeks of PPWR: first obligations, first friction
What changed for recyclers rather than for packaging producers. The full calendar to 2040, and why a four-year gap between obligation and investment horizon is the real risk.
25% recycled content in PET bottles: why a national average is not a producer obligation
The 25% figure is well known. The way it is measured is not, and the difference explains why rPET demand moved less than the headline suggested.
PFAS in food-contact packaging: what exactly was banned on 12 August
From 12 August 2026 three PFAS thresholds apply to food-contact packaging in the EU. They measure content rather than migration, and they cover substances nobody added on purpose.
Recyclate prices at the end of June: the whole curve under pressure
Full price table with rPET, rHDPE, rLDPE and rPP. Why colour is worth EUR 600 a tonne, and why prices this low signal an industry selling below cost.
New waste shipment rules apply: DIWASS, and the November export ban
Two dates change how plastic waste moves: 21 May brought new rules and DIWASS, 21 November brings the non-OECD export ban. Why the ban redistributes the problem rather than solving it.
Polypropylene (PP) Recycling: The Complete Guide to Europe’s Fastest-Growing Recycled Polymer
What is polypropylene? Polypropylene (PP) is a thermoplastic polymer made by chain-growth polymerisation of propylene monomer. Discovered independently by several chemists in the early 1950s…
PVC Recycling: Challenges & Solutions for a Circular Vinyl Economy
What is PVC? Polyvinyl chloride, universally known as PVC or vinyl, is the world’s third most produced synthetic polymer after polyethylene and polypropylene. Chemically, PVC…
HDPE Recycling: Properties, Process & Applications of Recycled High-Density Polyethylene
High-density polyethylene — better known as HDPE, or resin identification code 2 — is the workhorse of the rigid plastic packaging world. Every time you…
PET Recycling: Complete Guide to Process, Quality & Applications
Polyethylene terephthalate — better known as PET — is the single most recycled plastic in the world. From mineral water bottles to polyester fleece jackets,…