Glass
Demand for bottle has increased significantly, alongside dwindling demand for MRF glass. This has seen the prices increase by £7 on the midpoint.
This has been coupled with generation being low for bottle.
There is currently not much of market for MRF glass aggregate, with some alternative markets appearing and spotty pricing.
View our more detailed glass price index here.
The PRN has stayed relatively stable this month with remelt and aggregate sitting at approximately £100 per tonne.
Metals
The metals market has remained relatively stable, with some softening following the larger price increases seen earlier in the year.
Aluminium can prices have been held back by continued smelter shutdowns across Europe, which have limited price growth.
Meanwhile, Defra’s PRN mitigation measures for steel have done little to settle the market, with uncertainty persisting as the industry awaits the outcome of the measures.
View our more detailed metal price index here.
Organics
The organics market has continued to move towards gate fees this month, as increasing volumes of food waste look for outlets following the rollout of mandatory household food waste collections under Simpler Recycling.
Available processing capacity remains highly constrained, with anaerobic digestion infrastructure under pressure. With no major projects expected to significantly increase capacity in the near term, further pressure is likely to be placed on available outlets as more food waste enters the market.
View our more detailed organics price index here.
Plastics
The prices for most grades of plastics have started to come down this month following Defra’s intervention in the PRN market on October 9, which has created a big drop in the plastics PRN price from almost £600 in September to around £420 at present.
Before this point, at the start of October, prices were at similar high levels to September.
The fall in spot prices has especially impacted the PET market, for which PRN support was very important and which has already seen a seasonal fall in demand.
The sector is now looking ahead to November when the EU is set to ban all plastic waste exports to non-OECD countries and is assessing how this will impact the UK market.
View our more detailed plastics price index here.
Textiles
Textile prices have continued to come down this month.
The second-hand textiles sector has continued to face tough economic conditions in recent years.
The industry is being flooded by “ultra-fast fashion” produced by brands like Shein and Temu which has reduced the quality of second-hand clothing while at the same time increasing supply.
At the same time, end markets such as those in Eastern Europe and the Middle East have been disrupted due to ongoing geopolitical tensions, including the ongoing Iran-US conflict.
Most recently, the Environment Agency introduced strict new rules around the export of used textiles, meaning merchants are having to dedicate extra resources to sorting processes.
The industry is also looking at substantial clear-up costs for fly tipping around textile banks as they struggle to keep up with the demand for collections.
View our more detailed textiles price index here.
Wood
With surplus volumes expected to remain high for the foreseeable future, spot market gate fees are anticipated to remain at current elevated levels over the coming months.
The waste wood market continues to face challenging conditions, with a significant surplus of material and constrained outlets keeping gate fees high.
The Wood Recyclers’ Association recently explained that although conditions have improved since the “unprecedented” disruption experienced in 2025, the market has yet to fully recover, with elevated volumes continuing to be reported across the country.
Some recyclers have been forced to restrict the volumes they accept and carefully manage stocks as storage capacity comes under increasing pressure. This has made it more difficult for suppliers to secure outlets for their material, putting further upward pressure on gate fees.
View our more detailed wood price index here.
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