Recycling industry News
Our top news picks from last month:
- International Finance Corporation (IFC): The Run on Recycled Plastic
- Waste Dive: M&A: WM expects to spend more than $500 million on solid waste acquisitions in 2025
- Waste Dive: 4 ways tariffs could impact recycled plastic markets
- Trellis: Progress report: Apple’s push to use recycled aluminum, rare earths and 13 other materials
The Run on Recycled Plastic
The IFC report paints a bullish picture of the plastic recycling market, boosted by technology innovation (i.e., chemical recycling) and regulations (e.g., Washington joined Maine, Oregon, California, Colorado, Maryland and Minnesota in passing EPR legislation this past April — and minimum recycled content requirements). Obstacles to meeting growing recycled plastic demand cited in the report include a shortage of “suitable” feedstock in developed markets and fragmented and opaque supply chains in developing countries. The report estimates that $50 billion in investment in efficient collection and sorting and recycling capacity is needed to overcome obstacles and meet growing demand by 2030.
✅ Our take:
While the report focuses mainly on chemical recycling, opportunities exist across a broader set of solutions, including mechanical recycling, alternative materials (e.g., paper, aluminum, glass), and more efficient and transparent supply chain transactions to meet the material needs of the packaging, automotive and textile sectors — which make up 60% of expected plastic demand in 2030. Circular works at the intersection of all of these materials and sectors to provide buyers with diverse and cost-efficient sourcing opportunities.
M&A: WM expects to spend more than $500 million on solid waste acquisitions in 2025
Waste Management’s Q1 earnings report that the organization is on course for its 2025 plans, including a spend of more than $500 million on solid waste acquisitions on top of last year’s $800 million. CEO Jim Fish noted that earnings exceeded expectations for the first quarter of 2025 and provided insight on the relatively strong performance in the waste collection and disposal industry as a whole, signaling optimism for the year ahead despite tariff volatility.
✅ Our take:
Investment momentum is real (possibly buoyed by the turbulent trade environment): in addition to Waste Management’s announcements, Republic Services reaffirmed its commitment to invest $500 million in plastics recycling capacity; and we saw breakthroughs in advanced recycling, with DePoly’s showcase plant producing “virgin-like” recycled PET at cost parity with virgin plastics, and PureCycle successfully recycling flexible polypropylene (PP). These developments prove that despite a turbulent policy landscape, investors still hold an optimistic point of view for the industry and its dividends.
4 ways tariffs could impact recycled plastic markets
The four impacts highlighted in the article include:
- Recycled PET from Mexico and Canada, which is considered compliant with United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), is exempt from tariffs — for now.
- Not so for recycled polyethylene (rPE) and recycled polyprolene (rPP), which are subject to different tariff levels depending on country of origin. Moreover, in 2024, the US exported over 14 million tons of PE globally (nearly half of total production), with nearly 17% of exports going to China and another 15% to Europe. Retaliatory tariffs could cause a flooding of the US market with virgin PE, driving down demand and/or price for rPE.
- The need for diverse supply chains to adapt to a rapidly evolving tariff landscape. US demand for recycled plastic exceeds local supply, which could drive up prices for recycled plastic, but an economic slowdown could have the opposite effect.
- Knock-on effects of tariffs on equipment and material costs for recycling infrastructure, and on other sectors (e.g., soybean exports, for which farmers use drainage tiles made from recycled high-density polyethylene, or rHPDE).
✅ Our take:
Uncertainty, confusion, opacity, turbulence — these words litter articles, discussions and commentary related to tariffs. With tariff levels changing weekly, and exemptions popping up and then disappearing, it is hard to keep track and know for sure where prices are or will be. The White House’s Annex II to the Reciprocal Tariff Executive Order appears to suggest that many polymers in “primary form” are exempt from tariffs, but still subject to the baseline 10%. As the article notes, PET seems to be exempt but be clear to read the fine print as it is only for PET (and we can only assume rPET) over 0.78 IV, ie high bottle grades. The main point we see is that nothing is clear, so don’t count on it while business planning. The only thing you can count on is uncertainty so in this environment, supply chain diversification and real-time data are critical. Circular’s platform can help buyers mitigate risk by exploring different tariff scenarios when looking for sourcing options.
Progress report: Apple’s push to use recycled aluminum, rare earths and 13 other materials
Apple’s latest progress report boasts an average of 24% recycled content (by mass) for products sold in 2024. The use of recycled content resulted in 6.2 million metric tons of avoided greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (accounting for 15% of Apple’s overall GHG footprint reduction in 2024). The company is transitioning 15 materials to recycled content, including aluminum, with over 70% of aluminum sourced from recycled content in 2024. Other materials include cobalt, copper, glass, gold, lithium, paper, plastics, rare earth elements, steel, tantalum, tin, titanium, tungsten and zinc. The report also highlights trade treaties, limited origin data and scarce supply chain capacity as key barriers to increasing recycled content.
✅ Our take:
Amidst the uncertainty of tariffs and trade wars, closing the material loop (i.e.materials used in production are reused or recycled back into the same or different products) can help not only reduce GHG emissions and waste footprints but also mitigate sourcing risks and supply-demand gaps. Not surprisingly, other tech giants are prioritizing this. In April, for example, Microsoft announced that it has already exceeded its 2025 goal of reaching a 90% reuse and recycling rate of servers and components, and that the company is further investing in US-based supply of recycled rare earth elements. Both Amazon and Microsoft invested in Toronto-based material recovery start-up Cyclic Materials this past month. Likewise, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are doubling down on vehicle-to-vehicle recycling, as announced by Audi mid-April. Demand for PCR plastics for automotive is expected to grow at a 11.1% CAGR reaching USD 22.32 billion by 2030, and with that brands need to develop robust sourcing strategies.
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Circular News
What has Circular.co been up to?
Circular found Walmart 20% savings on PCR Plastic in 3 weeks
We published our latest case study last month detailing how Circular helped Highline Warren, a long-time supplier for Walmart’s white labeled automotive products, source rHPDE. Within a 3-week period, Circular was able to identify nearly 40 new suppliers of rHDPE, offering up to 20% savings in material cost. Both Walmart and Highline Warren are now considering using Circular’s AI-powered platform to source other opportunities globally and to mitigate supply chain risk in the current uncertain economic environment.
PCR Pricing and Tariff Analysis
Prices remained largely stable from March to April for plastic resins, with the exception of rHPDE-natural which continues to see a steady increase (5% month over month), commanding a growing price premium vs. virgin HDPE.
We examined what impact tariffs might have on US buyers of plastic resins when importing PCR or virgin plastics from different geographies in the table below:
✅ Our take:
We’re seeing limited impact on buyer decision-making vis-a-vis European suppliers. However, with tariffs on Asian PCR imports of 145%, onshoring or sourcing from the EU becomes more competitive. Having visibility on price differences across regions, and potential impacts of tariffs, is key in seeking supply chain diversity to optimize purchasing costs.
New from Circular.co: Searching for material opportunities on Circular’s AI-powered platform
We’ve expanded! From recycled plastics, to glass, aluminum, paper, the power of Circular’s platform is to quickly and efficiently match buyers’ needs with material supply in the rapidly changing global supply chain environment.
Contact support@circular.co for more information.
About Circular
Circular.co is an AI sourcing platform for sustainable and next-gen materials. Circular’s AI-powered platform runs on the world’s largest recycled materials model, allowing buyers to instantly access new suppliers, analyze pricing, get custom quotes, transact, and manage quality, saving time and cost. Global brands use Circular.co to make data-driven decisions and efficiently find the right material from the right suppliers at the right price. Book a demo here or visit circular.co.