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Waste-to-Energy Market Update: Q1 2022

EnMass Energy Commodity Market Update

 

Notes: 2022 is off to a fast start. By the end of the quarter all 5 sectors saw price increases, but plastics outpaced the others. Metal, wood pulp, and fertilizer saw a drop in price in February, but all started to increase by March. Fertilizer increased the most, putting a strain on the poultry litter market, once again. Tire prices have increased but seem mostly steady. Plastics continue to climb and are outpacing any other waste commodity. Experts expect the demand to remain high in 2022 and for prices to take off, as a result*.

 

*source: https://www.recyclingtoday.com/article/plastic-scrap-prices-rising-maintaining-january/

Deep dive by commodity type:

 

q1 2022 scrap metal price index

Notes: The three types of scrap metal continue to track in unison as we kick off 2022. Prompt industrial compounds saw the biggest drop in February compared to the other metal types.

 

q1 2022 waste plastics price index graph

Notes: LDPE was the only type of plastic that saw a decline so far this year, all the other forms started to increase in January and continued to do so through March. PP Copolymer has already increased $.12 since the start of the year, which is a greater change than any other material.

 q1 2022 fertilizer price index graph

Notes: Fertilizer prices saw a slight decline in February but returned and surpassed their start-of-the-year price by March. According to the reports 2022 is going to be a hard year on farmers, with fertilizer costs going up by $39.55/acre*.

 

*Source: https://www.agri-pulse.com/articles/17036-study-rising-fertilizer-prices-will-hit-farmers-hard-in-2022

q1 2022 woody biomass price index graph

Notes: Woody biomass prices remain mostly constant at the start of 2022 with little to no variability.

 

q1 2022 used tire price index graph

Notes: Used tire prices have seen incremental increases month over month so far in Q1, increasing by ~1% each month so far.  


As a tech-enabled brokerage of waste commodities used in renewable energy and advanced recycling projects, EnMass provides sourcing and supply chain services within fast-growing Waste-to-Energy (WtE) industry.

EnMass Energy uses standard tools and approaches from commodities trading to assign values to waste streams that create value at energy projects. Additionally, we connect every link in the Waste-to-Energy project process through our supply chain management platform that optimizes collection, transportation, delivery schedules and financing of WtE projects. Learn more about us.

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