Data sources
Where our pricing and market information comes from, how current it is, and what each source can and cannot tell you.
| Source | Type | Region | Materials | Frequency | Status | Limitations |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Public government and regulator publications | Official statistics and policy | Global — Asia, Europe, the Americas and Oceania | All polymers | As published | Public | Published with a lag; often annual rather than market-current. |
| Publicly released industry association data | Industry body reporting | Global | PET, HDPE, PP | Monthly to annual | Public | Coverage and definitions vary between associations. |
| Company announcements and public filings | Corporate disclosure | Global | All polymers | Event driven | Public | Reflects individual company positions, not the whole market. |
| Publicly reported trade press pricing commentary | Media reporting | Global | PET, HDPE, PP | Weekly to monthly | Public | Secondary reporting; underlying assessment basis is not always disclosed. |
| Direct market feedback to WasteBaleAudit | Primary market contact | Australia and New Zealand (country-specific source) | Bales, flake, pellet | Ongoing | Non-attributable | Anonymised; indicative of sentiment and range rather than a settled index. |
| Licensed commercial price assessments (ICIS, S&P Global, Argus, OPIS) | Paid subscription assessment | Global | All polymers | Weekly | Licensed — not republished | These figures are proprietary. We do not copy, scrape or republish them. They may inform private commercial work only where a licence permits. |
Proprietary third-party pricing is never copied or republished without permission. Where a published figure has a public source, that source is linked with the record. See the methodology for how figures are dated and compared.