The First in Market in the US Independent Price Assessments Bring Transparency and Aid Circular Economy
HOUSTON and NEW YORK and LONDON, March 25, 2025 -- First in market in the US, independent price assessments of mixed plastic waste were announced on March 12 for the United States and Europe by Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, the leading independent provider of information, data, analysis, benchmark prices and workflow solutions for the metals, commodities, chemicals, energy and energy transition markets. The announcement coincides with the 40th anniversary of the World Petrochemical Conference by S&P Global.
Analysts at S&P Global Commodity Insights believe that mixed plastic waste, mainly polyolefins, will play a significant role in chemical recycling as the global energy transition progresses, offering advantages over mechanical recycling. Traditional mechanical recycling continues to face challenges of mixed and/or contaminated plastics that frequently results in these materials being sent to landfills or incinerated, releasing harmful pollutants and greenhouse gases. Conversely, chemical recycling can decompose complex waste streams into their basic components, enabling greater recycling of plastics that would otherwise be discarded.
Olivier Maronneaud, Global Research Lead for Methanol and Plastic Circularity, S&P Global Commodity Insights, said, "Pyrolysis plants focus on polyolefin waste feedstocks, and this feedstock accounts for the lion's share of all chemical recycling projects. Among the 230 projects we track, pyrolysis represents approximately 70% of them. Currently, these units are relatively limited in scale, but companies are looking to increase the capacity of plastic waste they can recycle to 50,000 to 100,000 metric ton per year or more. The introduction of Platts mixed plastic waste assessments will provide market participants with comprehensive pricing information in their continued path towards plastics circularity."
Heng Hui, Platts Global Sustainable Pricing Lead, S&P Global Commodity Insights said, "We are pleased to announce the launch of this new suite of Platts Mixed Plastic Waste price assessments, providing the first-ever assessment for the US and crucial coverage of Europe assessments. As chemical recycling technologies rapidly evolve and industry demand continues to grow, our inaugural assessments will bring greater transparency across the broader recycling value chain and may have the added benefit of better incentivizing investments in recycling technologies and processes."
S&P Global Commodity Insights estimates that in Europe, another 4 to 5 pyrolysis units will be built in the next couple of years on top of the two new plants currently in operation while in the United States, that US pyrolysis-based recycling capacity could reach over 600,000 mt/year by 2027.
The two new Platts mixed plastic waste price assessments will reflect the prevailing market value of sorted, washed and shredded mixed plastic waste at advanced recycling facilities, conforming to composition specifications, as outlined here for the US and Northwest Europe. They will be expressed as delivered duty paid (DDP) in US dollars and cents for the US, and DDP in US dollars and Euros for Europe:
- Platts Process-ready Mixed Plastic Waste Bale DDP US $/mt
- Platts Process-ready Mixed Plastic Waste Bale DDP US cents/lb
- Platts Process-ready Mixed Plastic Waste Bale DDP NWE $/mt
- Platts Process-ready Mixed Plastic Waste Bale DDP NWE Eur/mt
Additional details of the assessments may be found in the methodology and specifications guidelines, as well as the subscriber note for UK and US. The prices will be available via products and services of S&P Global Commodity Insights. For more on petrochemicals, visit: https://www.spglobal.com/platts/en/commodities/petrochemicals
S&P Global Platts has been covering the petrochemicals markets for nearly 40 years and has an extended suite of aromatics and olefins price assessments regionally and globally.
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