Recycled Plastics: PET Flakes, rPET, HDPE, PP & LDPE

Recycled plastics trade in three forms, and the form decides the law. Bales and regrind or washed flakes are plastic waste and scrap under HS 3915 (3915.10 for polyethylene, 3915.90 for PET and PP), covered since 1 January 2021 by the Basel Convention plastic waste amendments: clean, sorted single-polymer waste is Annex IX entry B3011, while mixed or contaminated plastic waste is Y48 and hazardous plastic waste A3210, both under prior informed consent. Extruded, filtered repro pellets are polymers in primary form under HS 3901, 3902 or 3907 and many destinations clear them as raw material. Destinations then set their own rules: China has banned solid waste imports since 1 January 2021 and publishes GB/T 40006 standards for recycled plastic pellets and PET flakes; Thailand banned plastic waste imports from 1 January 2025 and Indonesia from 2025; Malaysia requires SIRIM approval, pre-shipment inspection by a SIRIM-approved body and 99.5% target-material homogeneity since July 2025; Viet Nam admits plastic scrap only for importers' own production under QCVN 32 with an environmental deposit; India allows PET flake imports only with DGFT authorisation and an environment ministry NOC; and Türkiye ties imports to a registered facility's own processing capacity with no more than 1% foreign matter. From the EU, Regulation (EU) 2024/1157 bans exports of non-hazardous plastic waste to non-OECD countries from 21 November 2026. UN Comtrade 2024 export declarations put HS 3915.10 at USD 1.06 billion across 100 reporters, led by Germany (USD 186 million), and HS 3915.90 at USD 1.68 billion across 124 reporters, led by Japan (USD 190 million).

The buyers are polyester fibre spinners, strapping and sheet plants, bottle-grade rPET makers, pipe, crate and pallet moulders, film blowers and compounders. CBIL is a commodity brokerage company and brokers recycled plastics in pressed bales, 1 MT big bags and 25 kg bags in 40-ft containers on FOB, CFR and CIF terms, against the recycler's certificate of analysis, photographs of the material, a certificate of origin, Annex VII or PIC consent documents where the material is waste, and pre-shipment inspection certificates where the destination requires them. Food-contact rPET is offered only from a recycling process authorised under Regulation (EU) 2022/1616 or listed with an FDA no objection letter. Send the polymer, form, grade, volume and discharge port, and the enquiry is screened and worked against it.