Bale Valuation Calculator
Enter bale weight, composition, product values, recovery efficiency and your processing, freight and disposal costs. The calculator returns recovered tonnes, net contribution per tonne and the maximum price you can pay — or the gate fee you need — for the bale to work commercially.
Bale and cost inputs
Composition and material assumptions
Total 100.0%| Material | % of bale | Value $/t | Recovery % | Disposal $/t | Recovered t | Gross value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HDPE Natural | 0.162 | $145.80 | ||||
| HDPE Coloured | 0.106 | $58.08 | ||||
| PP | 0.085 | $51.00 | ||||
| PET Bottles | 0.322 | $225.40 | ||||
| PET Thermoforms | 0.056 | $16.80 | ||||
| Mixed Plastics | 0.042 | $6.30 | ||||
| Residual Waste | 0.000 | $0.00 | ||||
| Other | 0.000 | $0.00 |
Commercial result
Commercially attractive
- Recovered tonnes
- 0.773 t
- Processing loss / disposal tonnes
- 0.227 t
- Gross recovered product value
- $503.38
- Disposal cost
- $40.93
- Total bale revenue
- $503.38
- Total bale cost
- $450.93
- Net contribution per bale
- $52.45
- Net contribution per input tonne
- $52.45
- Effective cost per recovered tonne
- $583.66
- Maximum viable purchase price
- $202.45/t
- Commercial margin
- 10.4%
Sensitivity — net contribution per input tonne
| Product value +10% | $102.79/t |
| Product value −10% | $2.11/t |
| Recovery +5pp | $88.92/t |
| Recovery −5pp | $15.97/t |
| Landfill cost +10% | $48.35/t |
| Landfill cost −10% | $56.54/t |
| Purchase price +$25/t | $27.45/t |
| Purchase price −$25/t | $77.45/t |
Results are indicative and depend entirely on the assumptions entered. Validate composition through representative sampling before purchasing or rejecting material.
Don't know the composition?
Upload a bale photograph and get an indicative composition estimate you can bring back into this calculator.
Analyse a baleNeed current product values?
Check indicative recycled PET, HDPE and PP pricing before setting your value assumptions.
Open the Price CentreHow the calculation works
- Input tonnes per material = bale weight × percentage of bale.
- Recovered tonnes = input tonnes × recovery efficiency.
- Everything not recovered is treated as disposal tonnage and charged at the landfill or material-specific disposal rate.
- Revenue = recovered product value (+ gate fee where the gate fee is revenue received).
- Cost = purchase price (where paid) + processing + freight + other variable costs + disposal.
- Break-even price is the purchase price at which net contribution is zero.
Read the full methodology and data sources.