OCC and Mixed Paper values fell further for October as a result of the National Sword Campaign. 

The negative movement of these grades, paired with the rising processing costs related to tightening quality specifications, strongly affected the value of the commingle grades.  Plastic bottle grades slipped, but did not have significant changes from month to month.     

The Chinese National Sword Campaign has been having an effect on the movement of mixed plastics, small rigids (ex. takeout trays), and film. 

There are also concerns with the future movement of mixed paper grades and OCC.  With the ban on many materials starting January 1, 2018, movement and orders could be further reduced next month. 

Although there are other markets, China has been by far the largest consumer of mixed papers and currently there is just not enough capacity to consume all the scrap material produced without China as a market. 

The turmoil in the export markets will most likely continue to have a negative impact on recycling, and the commodity values, in the coming months. 

There is still a lot of uncertainty out there for the mid and long term outlooks, but there will be significant short-term effects as we navigate through this new territory.