Mechanically recycled HDPE, LDPE and PP from post-consumer and post-industrial sources. PCR, PIR and food-grade decontaminated streams.
European mechanical recycling capacity for rPE and rPP totals approximately 3 million tonnes per year and is growing at ~10% annually. The largest operators include LyondellBasell QCP (Netherlands), Borealis Borcycle, Veolia / SABIC TRUCIRCLE, and Plastic Energy (chemical recycling pyrolysis). Quality bifurcates sharply: post-consumer rPE and rPP from packaging streams trades €500–1,200/t below virgin; chemically recycled (advanced recycling) rPP for food contact often trades a premium over virgin.
The collection-to-pellet flow has structural bottlenecks. Bale availability sets the floor: Germany's DSD (Dual System), France's Citeo, and Spain's Ecoembes drive the bulk of post-consumer collection. Sorting capacity (NIR-based in MRFs) is the first capacity constraint; food-contact-grade decontamination capacity is the second.
rPO pricing decouples from virgin contract. Bale supply (kerbside collection economics) sets the floor; converter demand (PPWR compliance) sets the ceiling. The virgin-to-rPO spread inverts during demand shocks — autumn 2022 saw rPO trade above virgin briefly as PPWR-anticipating brand owners locked in supply.
ICIS publishes rPE flake (for film and bottle) and rPP pellet weekly indices separately. For chemically-recycled material, mass-balance accounting under ISCC PLUS allows premium pricing tied to a virgin-equivalent specification. Buyers committing to multi-year volume often secure volume in advance via offtake agreements directly with recyclers.
Recycled plastic comes from two streams: post-consumer recycled (PCR) plastic recovered from household waste, and post-industrial recycled (PIR) plastic from manufacturing scrap. Mechanical recycling — the dominant route — washes, sorts, shreds and re-pelletises used plastic into new resin. Chemical recycling (pyrolysis, depolymerisation) breaks plastic back to monomer or oil-equivalent and re-polymerises it; it produces virgin-equivalent quality but at higher cost and lower volume currently.
It depends on the polymer and recycling route. Recycled HDPE for non-food bottles and recycled PET for fibre and bottles are mature streams that perform indistinguishably from virgin in their target applications. Mechanically recycled PP is more variable in quality and is typically used in non-critical applications. Chemically recycled rPP (LyondellBasell Circulen, SABIC TRUCIRCLE) delivers virgin-equivalent performance with full food-contact certification, at a price premium of €300–500/t over virgin.
PCR stands for Post-Consumer Recycled — plastic recovered from household waste streams (kerbside collection, deposit-return schemes) and re-pelletised for new packaging. Major brand owners — Unilever, P&G, Nestlé, L'Oréal — set voluntary PCR targets ahead of EU PPWR thresholds, typically 25–50% PCR content by 2025–2030 in shampoo bottles, detergent bottles, and other personal-care and household packaging. PCR-HDPE for personal care and PCR-PET for beverage bottles are the most established streams.
Counter-intuitively, recycled plastic regularly trades above virgin in Europe. Three reasons: (1) PPWR-driven brand-owner demand outpaces collected supply, (2) food-grade decontamination capacity is limited and expensive, and (3) collection and sorting costs are largely fixed regardless of virgin polymer pricing. The rPET-to-virgin spread inverted in 2022 and has held a €200–350/t premium since. The market expects this premium to compress only when collection capacity catches up — likely 2027–2028.