Waste Handling & Recycling Solutions

Harmony’s Data-Driven Sustainability Solutions bring together energy optimization, indoor health protection, and real-time operational intelligence to help organizations create healthier spaces, reduce energy use, and make smarter decisions—powered by measurable data, not assumptions. These human-centric technologies are designed to work independently or together to deliver continuous performance improvement, verified savings, and long-term sustainability outcomes across commercial, industrial, agricultural, and institutional environments.

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Solutions Built Around Your Industry & Operational Environment

Reduce hauling costs, improve backroom efficiency, and simplify recycling with solutions designed to keep busy retail backrooms running efficiently every day.

Retail & Grocery

Manage corrugated, plastics, scrap materials, and production waste with durable equipment built for continuous use, helping free up floor space while supporting a safer, more productive work environment.

Manufacturing & Industrial Facilities

Keep docks clear, reduce labor handling time, and process recyclable materials efficiently to support continuous movement and material flow across high volume warehouse and logistics environments.

Distribution & Warehousing

Support cleaner spaces, smarter waste handling, and operational reliability with solutions designed for hospitals, clinics, and regional medical campuses.

Healthcare & Medical Centers

From schools and municipal buildings to apartment communities, Harmony solutions help manage waste across multiple locations, while controlling costs and minimizing disruptions to improve safety, cleanliness, and operational performance.

Public Sector & Multi Facility Environments

High material volumes, space constraints, and rising transport costs make efficient compaction essential to keep operations running and margins strong. Process OCC, PET, aluminum, textiles, and mixed recyclables with equipment designed to maximize throughput, bale quality, and commodity value.

Recycling & Material Recovery

Harmony Recycling Market Pulse: Updated Weekly!

Week of October 26–30, 2026

OCC (Old Corrugated Containers)

The national average price for OCC remains at approximately $91 per ton in October, compared to $50–$55 per ton one year ago. This year-over-year improvement continues to make corrugated cardboard an important recovered commodity for commercial recycling operations. With prices relatively stable, businesses can focus on maintaining clean, dry cardboard streams, producing consistent bales, and maximizing trailer weights to help protect material value and control transportation expenses.

Mixed Paper

Mixed paper continues to average approximately $35–$40 per ton nationally, compared to $26 per ton in October 2025. While values remain considerably lower than OCC, the improvement over last year offers a positive signal for recovered fiber markets. Reducing contamination, maintaining proper separation, and producing uniform bales can help recycling facilities manage handling costs and improve marketability.

PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate)

Post-consumer PET bottles and jars remain under pricing pressure, averaging approximately 2.53 cents per pound in October. This compares to 2.61 cents in September and 4.50 cents one year ago. The continued weakness in PET values underscores the importance of efficient processing and material quality. Keeping bottles and jars separate from incompatible plastics, limiting contamination, and optimizing bale density can help businesses better manage the costs associated with collecting and marketing PET.

Aluminum UBC (Used Beverage Cans)

Sorted, baled aluminum beverage cans continue to command approximately 96.56 cents per pound nationally, up from 78.44 cents in October 2025. Aluminum remains among the more valuable commonly recovered packaging materials, making efficient collection and preparation especially important. Proper separation and densification can help minimize storage requirements, improve shipping efficiency, and preserve the value of recovered aluminum.

Steel Cans

Sorted, baled steel cans remain at approximately $198 per ton nationally, compared to $158 per ton one year ago. The stronger year-over-year pricing provides a favorable backdrop for recovering steel packaging. Businesses that consistently separate steel cans and produce dense, market-ready bales can improve handling efficiency, reduce freight costs, and support more effective recycling operations.

Plastics Market Highlight: HDPE and Polypropylene

While PET prices remain weak, other recovered plastics are showing improvement. Natural HDPE increased to approximately 40.25 cents per pound in October, up from 36.50 cents in September. Colored HDPE rose to 11.13 cents per pound, while polypropylene increased to 7.19 cents per pound. These gains demonstrate how market conditions can vary significantly among plastic resin types. For recycling operations, accurate material identification, effective sorting, and consistent bale quality remain important to capturing available commodity value.

Overall Recycling Market Outlook

As October comes to a close, national recycling commodity prices continue to reflect a market of selective strength and ongoing challenges. OCC, mixed paper, aluminum, and steel cans remain above year-ago levels, while PET continues to experience downward pressure. Recent improvements in HDPE and polypropylene provide some encouragement within the plastics market.

For businesses preparing their 2027 operational budgets, the emphasis remains on controlling processing and transportation expenses while maximizing the quality and density of recyclable materials. Efficient baling, compaction, material separation, and equipment maintenance can help organizations navigate changing commodity values and maintain productive recycling operations.

Market Pricing Disclaimer

Commodity values reflect published national averages for sorted, baled post-consumer recyclables and are provided for general market awareness. Actual pricing and market conditions vary by region, material quality, volume, transportation costs, and individual buyer or mill agreements.