Attached is your PO for deliveries of recyclables during December 2021.

The value of recyclables again dropped significantly this month. Every paper and plastic grade suffered large price decreases.

Without a doubt, the largest impact on tumbling paper prices is the worsening of port delays. We listed several reasons for ongoing port delays:  vessels anchored off shore awaiting unloading, severe shortage of domestic truck drivers to haul containers from and to the ports, full warehouses on land so full containers back up at the port, stacked containers inside the ports making finding the right containers difficult, etc.  Now, as the Holiday season heightens, rapidly shifting export bookings have become even less reliable.  And, many shipping lines are skipping entire weeks before loading the next vessel. There is no sign of ports decongesting anytime soon.

Additionally, every mill in the PNW is full of inbound paper or has more than adequate inventory at their facilities. This created a large drop in demand and a resulting large drop in paper pricing. A few paper mills had unplanned downtime, further decreasing the overall paper demand.

Last month, we saw the largest drop ever in HDPE Natural and HDPE Color pricing. That record was broken again this month. Plastic container manufacturers refused to pay the inflated prices of post-consumer recycled material, leading to a 37% price drop for some plastic grades.

Metals remained relatively flat and were the only commodities not suffering from large price drops.

During these challenging times, we will always strive to obtain the best pricing available and to provide you the best possible service. We hope you have a joyful Holiday season. So, please note our Holiday schedule at the end of this letter.  It is our pleasure to work with you to recycle material and to protect our environment. We appreciate you and thank you for your business.

Stay Safe!

Signature Plates

P.S. – Please note our Holiday schedule below.

Christmas Eve – we will close for deliveries at 2 PM.

Christmas Day – closed. We will be open for deliveries the following Monday, DEC 27^th.

New Year’s Eve – we will close for deliveries at 2 PM.

New Year’s Day – closed. We will be open for deliveries the following Monday, JAN 3^rd.