Regrind prices do not move in isolation. They move with virgin resin.
If you buy or sell post-industrial or post-consumer regrind, this is the pricing mechanic that governs almost every negotiation: the spread to virgin parity.
Virgin resin - the benchmark price for a new, prime-grade polymer - is the ceiling most regrind buyers are working backwards from. A buyer paying USD X per kilogram for virgin HDPE pellets will pay for regrind at a discount to that price. The discount reflects the quality differential - contamination, melt flow variability, colour - and the processing cost required to bring the regrind to a usable state.
When virgin prices rise, regrind demand increases and prices follow - buyers chasing a cheaper feedstock. When virgin prices fall, regrind loses its cost advantage and demand softens. The spread compresses and expands as virgin moves.
What this means in practice for sellers: the best time to place regrind is when virgin is high. What it means for buyers: securing supply contracts at spread-to-virgin terms protects you when virgin spikes.
Two other factors move the spread independently of virgin price: resin identity certainty and contamination level. A lot of post-industrial HDPE with a known producer, consistent MFI, and minimal contamination trades at a tighter spread to virgin than an unmarked mixed polyolefin lot. The tighter the spec, the tighter the spread.
The Circular Industry Cloud lists plastics at grade - resin type, source, contamination profile - so buyers can price accurately and sellers get offers that reflect the actual material, not a worst-case assumption.
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