The end of June 2026 left every recycled polymer under pressure. OPIS assessed rPET flakes at EUR 1,331–1,341 per tonne and pellets at EUR 1,718–1,728, DDP Northwest Europe. Black rPP pellets fell 3.3% month on month to EUR 960–970. Demand was weak across most recycled polymers, with buyers ordering minimally in anticipation of further falls before the summer shutdowns. Read on their own the numbers describe a soft market. Read against capacity data they describe something more serious.
The assessments
| Material | Form | EUR/t |
|---|---|---|
| rPET | flakes | 1,331–1,341 |
| rPET | pellets | 1,718–1,728 |
| rHDPE | natural pellets | 1,705–1,715 |
| rHDPE | white pellets | 1,500–1,510 |
| rHDPE | grey pellets | 1,111–1,121 |
| rPP | black pellets | 960–970 |
| rLDPE | grey pellets | 849–859 |
| rLDPE | black pellets | 803–813 |
All figures are OPIS assessments, DDP Northwest Europe, at end of June 2026.
Colour is the whole story
Look at rHDPE. Natural material trades roughly EUR 600 per tonne above grey — more than the entire price of black rLDPE. The polymer is identical. What differs is what happened before the recycler received it.
Natural rHDPE comes from a colour-sorted stream: milk bottles, canisters, uncoloured packaging. It can become a product of any colour, including a light one. Grey material is a blend that cannot be lightened, so it is limited to dark applications — pipes, pallets, technical components, plant pots. The price gap is the market’s valuation of collection and sorting quality, expressed in euros.
The same logic governs PET, which is why deposit return systems that keep clear bottles separate produce materially more valuable feedstock than kerbside collection of mixed packaging.
Why prices fall while obligations rise
PPWR has applied since 12 August 2026, but its recycled content targets start in 2030: 30% for single-use PET beverage bottles, 30% for other contact-sensitive packaging made primarily from PET, 10% for contact-sensitive packaging from other plastics. Until then the demand the legislation creates is mostly prospective.
Meanwhile virgin polymer is cheap, on the back of petrochemical overcapacity. Recycling carries the cost of collection, sorting, washing and extrusion; virgin production runs one continuous plant at far greater scale. That gap is what closes recyclers.
The result: EU recycling capacity, roughly 13.2 million tonnes in 2023, lost around one million tonnes by the end of 2025 — the equivalent of France’s entire capacity. Prices this low are not a sign of an efficient market clearing. They are a sign of an industry selling below the cost of production while it can.
What November adds
From 21 November 2026 the EU bans exports of plastic waste to non-OECD countries, with an estimated 500,000 to 800,000 tonnes a year requiring domestic treatment. The instinct is to expect that to depress recyclate prices further through additional supply.
It is more likely to split the market. The retained material is predominantly mixed and contaminated — the grades that were exported precisely because European plants would not take them. Expect downward pressure on the low end and on gate fees moving upward, while clean, colour-sorted fractions at the top of the table stay scarce for the same reasons they always were.
How to read these figures
Two caveats. These are prices for finished pellets and flakes, not for waste: anyone selling a bale receives a fraction of these numbers, because sorting, washing, shredding, extrusion and mass losses sit in between. And DDP means delivered, duty paid, so the figures include transport and are not comparable with ex-works quotations.
Frequently asked questions
What did rPET cost at the end of June 2026?
OPIS assessed rPET flakes at EUR 1,331-1,341 per tonne and rPET pellets at EUR 1,718-1,728 per tonne, DDP Northwest Europe.
Why is natural rHDPE more expensive than grey rHDPE?
Natural material comes from a colour-sorted stream and can be made into products of any colour. Grey material is a colour blend that cannot be lightened and is confined to dark applications. The difference is around EUR 600 per tonne.
Are these prices what a waste seller receives?
No. These are assessments for finished pellets and flakes. A seller of baled waste receives a fraction, because sorting, washing, shredding, extrusion and mass losses lie between the two.
Related reading: plastic recycling explains the processing steps that separate a bale from a pellet, the circular economy covers why price signals matter for closing material loops, and chemical recycling looks at the route proposed for the low-value end of this table.
Sources: OPIS price assessments for the European recycled polymer market, end of June 2026; capacity and export figures from market analysis published in July 2026; Regulation (EU) 2025/40 (PPWR) and Regulation (EU) 2024/1157.
