Scrap aluminimum cans, from The Bahmas, to sell in Florida ? Need a price per ton ?

Hello guys:

My wife was born in Nassau, in The Bahamas, and some of her family still lives there.

In conversation with my BIL, he mentioned that beer and soda cans down there seem to have no value, end everyone just throws them in the garbage, which ends up at the city dump, and is buried in a big hole in the ground. My eyes light up, and I start thinking about the situation. Tropical climate, the major industry is tourist driven, and every body is drinking either beer or soda.

In addition to the existing places like the huge Atlantis Resort, and all the other hotels and resort, the city of Nassau is about to see the opening of a gigantic new development called Baha Mar, that will have 2200 hotels rooms, condos, golf courses and 30 bars and resturants, opening in a year from now.

My Question. What are used scrap beer or soda cans worth, in Miami ?. That would be the logical destination for the materials, coming by ship, from Nassau.

The amount of cans is potentially huge, with a new container, loaded with beer or soda arriving every day, according to mu BIL who is in the wholesale food service business, supplying hotels and supermarkets down there.

I know that the cans should be crushed to make them easier to pack in drums, and then put them on pallets, and strap them down. A nice feature of this is the fact that most sea board containers that end up in Nassau are going back to the US empty, as there is little in the way of exports from The Bahamas. I hope that the container companies will be happy to get a reduced price. for a load " going back home ".

Bottom line. I need to know what the ball park price would be, for scrap beer and soda cans, in Miami. Hopefully it will be tons in terms of the weight per shipment.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

Jim B.

Toronto.

A rough price per metric ton would be $1800 per. What you are talking about would have a lot of overhead. Good luck in your ventures.

Thanks for the price estimate.

My partners in Nassau, are impressed with the concept.

As it stands right now, the field is wide open , as there are no current collection systems, either private or Government.

The bars and hotels simply throw the beer and soda cans in the garbage bins, and the trucks take it all to the dump. To be buried.

Thanks again, for your help.

Jim B

Toronto.

If you are going to deal in tons of cans then you might want to ship direct to an aluminum company like ALCOA Aluminum and you could make a much better deal on the price by cutting out the middle man. Just a thought. Good luck and keep us posted on how this turns out for you.

Sounds like a interesting venture, if you get it going the first thing you would have to get is a baler,forget the drums a bale of (UBC's) weighs around 600-800 lbs depending on the baler you buy.UBC's is the industry term for cans,I have shipped a couple of containers from the Bahamas it was a night mare, they do not have any scrap metal knowlage there it took two days to sort the material.I could see them packing steel cans mixed with aluminum cans,it could work but make sure they know what they are doing a few magnets would do.Good Luck.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jimintoronto

Thanks for the price estimate.

My partners in Nassau, are impressed with the concept.

As it stands right now, the field is wide open , as there are no current collection systems, either private or Government.

The bars and hotels simply throw the beer and soda cans in the garbage bins, and the trucks take it all to the dump. To be buried.

Thanks again, for your help.

Jim B

Toronto.

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Jim, you might check in with someone connected with the Gov't over there, you just might get some kind of start-up grant for this for helping to clean up, recycling their waste. Someone on here just posted a smaller baler for sale without breaking the bank. Might be the way to start out on the down-low.

http://www.scrapmetalforum.com/scrap...bile-unit.html

Happy Scrapper :

Brilliant idea. Thanks very much. Selling direct to a smelter makes perfect sense.

1956:

A baler is a basic thing to have, you are right. As for local knowledge, I will be down there, acting as the on site manager, when we get this up and running. My Wife's family is down there, and her brother is one of the partners.

Mechanic 688.

My Wife's mother was a long time Nassau school teacher, and my Wife went to high school with the current Prime Minister, and most of his Cabinet, so we are well connected, politically, and we have 3 Bahamians in the partner ship group. I have been lobbying the PM for a couple of years, about this project.

Thanks all .

Jim B.