What do you guys do with your plastics?

Plastics is a hard business to be in.
So many different grades and without large amounts 40,000lbs + it is hard to find any buyers interested.
Without having a baler, it is hard to get over 300lbs lbs in a single Gaylord. Baling the mixed plastic is the only way to make weight, but most of the average Escrap guys are not going to spend 10k + on a baler.
One of the problems with computer plastic is that it has a FR rating (Fire retardant). There is not a huge market for this in the US, so most of it gets exported overseas. And chipping the plastic through a wood chipper is not beneficial at all. Actually we pay significantly less for chipped plastic.
If you have any other questions feel free to ask. Plastic are over half of our business so I have some knowledge about it.

Seems that is a perpetual problem. Closest place I have found is about 40 miles one way in a city I rarely, if ever, have business in. And that company doesn't pay for it, they just said they would be willing to let me dump there. If the profit was there, it certainly seems like some of us could join forces in regional or sub-regional "hubs" to get this stuff moved (and kept out of landfills). With weight/volume being a key, on a small scale, most of us are S.O.L. as sellers, but if small operators were feeding a regional or sub-regional network of some kind, maybe that could work. As noted, though, equipping those facilities might be expensive. Just seems like so much material is out there and it is such a common and ongoing problem that there ought to be a solution of some kind.

Originally Posted by Swampy

Seems that is a perpetual problem. Closest place I have found is about 40 miles one way in a city I rarely, if ever, have business in. And that company doesn't pay for it, they just said they would be willing to let me dump there. If the profit was there, it certainly seems like some of us could join forces in regional or sub-regional "hubs" to get this stuff moved (and kept out of landfills). With weight/volume being a key, on a small scale, most of us are S.O.L. as sellers, but if small operators were feeding a regional or sub-regional network of some kind, maybe that could work. As noted, though, equipping those facilities might be expensive. Just seems like so much material is out there and it is such a common and ongoing problem that there ought to be a solution of some kind.

I have looked into this, but have niether space nor quantity

Balers can be rented/leased from some of the buyers.

They will probably require a contract stating you will only sell to them if you use their baler.

Balers generally use 3 phase electric

In tractor trailer load quantities, you should get paid better than shred.

Dear Resourceful Recycling,

We have this problem, we have 15,000 lbs. of un-baled ABS plastic from computer housings that we would like to sell. We are in the Pittsburgh, PA are, do you know anyone that might like to purchase this material? Thanks

Jacob Metz
(412) 390-3450
JMetz at evolutionecycling dot com