Starting in co-mingled recycling

Howdy yall! So I have recently been given a lead to possibly getting a recycling contract with a local coffee shop picking up their paper, plastics, cardboard, etc. In the past I have provided these types of services, but on a much smaller scale. I need to figure out how to make this opportunity profitable while not charging substantially more than the monopoly company that already services my city. I don't really know what I am asking, but if anyone has any advise about working with these commodities on a small (volume wise) scale. Thank you

The few times i have sold paper products I made 50 a ton. For me it was not worth the hassle other than I had a few tons and it was better than taking it to the landfill. If you can provide containers and have the coffee shop employees sort the material you could make some cash but if it all goes into one bin and you have to sort it then in my opinion it wouldn't be worth it for me personally.

But most businesses lose money at first so if you are ok with that while you scale up then go for it. The worst that can happen is you pay for an education.

Here one yard will buy paper, paper board, cardboard, vynal siding and pvc. But at .01 a lb not worth it

At one point in time cardboard was selling for more $ than shred - is that still true, or has the price gone down ?

So just to clarify, I would be getting paid to pick it up just like a regular trash company. In the future I would like to own a legitimate recycling company so I think it would be worth it to take it on as a learning experience even if I would be running a deficit for the first few months until I pay off the container costs. I am talking with one of my professors tomorrow about it to see what he says.

If you are getting paid for the pickup I say do it. If you make a few pennies on the back end by having someone buy your paper and #1 plastic all the better. Keep us updated.

Even if you are getting paid the commodities price is falling on paper, plastic so I would not even try and recycle these items. How much is the cost to take items to the dump?

Paid to pick it up? Much better.

You also get the bonus of whatever paper/cardboard/etc is going for.

Yard by me I prefer, they store crap in their warehouse till they get enough to sell. Cardboard, pallets, etc. When the pallets reach a certain height they start a huge pile outside. Thing giant jenga pile but with pallets. LOL.

If you have somewhere to store the bales, or however your containing it, then I'd say give it a try. Make sure you got somewhere to sell it closeby so you don't get killed on shipping or gas prices. An we do have an excellent freight mover here on the boards if you need it.

Good luck as always Gravi. An good to see ya about an kicking..

First KZ, now Gravi...legends do live...oh it's true, it's **** true. ;)

Sirscrapalot - People who dont' share tacos are just plain mean.

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Originally Posted by Sirscrapalot

Paid to pick it up? Much better.

You also get the bonus of whatever paper/cardboard/etc is going for.

Yard by me I prefer, they store crap in their warehouse till they get enough to sell. Cardboard, pallets, etc. When the pallets reach a certain height they start a huge pile outside. Thing giant jenga pile but with pallets. LOL.

If you have somewhere to store the bales, or however your containing it, then I'd say give it a try. Make sure you got somewhere to sell it closeby so you don't get killed on shipping or gas prices. An we do have an excellent freight mover here on the boards if you need it.

Good luck as always Gravi. An good to see ya about an kicking..

First KZ, now Gravi...legends do live...oh it's true, it's **** true. ;)

Sirscrapalot - People who dont' share tacos are just plain mean.

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http://www.toxel.com/wp-content/uplo...coholder03.jpg

Thats a very good point that I haven't really thought about yet. I know that I can get rid of the stuff at the county processing facility for free, but it is somewhat far away. I made a connection through my job this summer with a public warehouse owner so if I could get enough customers to warrant a baler for cardboard or paper, I could probably work out a pretty good deal with him. The way the economy and trade laws are going nowadays has me worried about the future of recycling in the next few years though. The good thing is that I haven't made any sort of commitment yet so I can just tell them I can't do it and try again later.

EDIT: So the county facility is actually a 12 mile round trip from my front door so that might not be that bad

We shipped our cardboard last month ... about 43 ton, and cleared 10.00$ per ton, after trucking costs were deducted.

I figured the labor cost to bale it all up was somewhere in the 19 - 23 k. range.

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Originally Posted by hills

We shipped our cardboard last month ... about 43 ton, and cleared 10.00$ per ton, after trucking costs were deducted.

I figured the labor cost to bale it all up was somewhere in the 19 - 23 k. range.

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Obviously I don't know all the details but to clear $430 on 43 tons of material does not seem hardly worth the effort but at least hopefully your company saved some trees

I would stay away from comingle unless you are just acting as a trucker and getting paid nicely by the client for a curbside subscription service. The money in mixed recycling is as bad as its ever been, maybe even worse than it was in 2008, though we could still export more of it, ten years ago. You will choke on the non-payable status of mixed recycling if you do or don't sort it so your best bet is to plan, specifically, to make all of your money on the pick-up. This may change if the mills really get cranking, again, but domestic response has not measured up to supply and the reaction is weak pricing for the foreseeable future. If you have your customer sort things for you, especially if they have sorted office paper and cardboard, you can hope to see some advantage on the commodity end but mixed paper grades, plastics, and metal cans have been performing poorly in many regions. The Midwest has some better opportunities for plastics than here in New England but it isn't a big enough difference that I think you really count on it, unless you know someone and have a contract in place.

Also, check with your local municipal ordinances and licensing. Neither you nor your prospect(s) might be in position to even consider the idea that you will collect their recycling. The city may maintain an exclusivity arrangement with its constituents, either through their own services or through a contracted partner like Republic or WM.

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Originally Posted by Breakage

I would stay away from comingle unless you are just acting as a trucker and getting paid nicely by the client for a curbside subscription service. The money in mixed recycling is as bad as its ever been, maybe even worse than it was in 2008, though we could still export more of it, ten years ago. You will choke on the non-payable status of mixed recycling if you do or don't sort it so your best bet is to plan, specifically, to make all of your money on the pick-up. This may change if the mills really get cranking, again, but domestic response has not measured up to supply and the reaction is weak pricing for the foreseeable future. If you have your customer sort things for you, especially if they have sorted office paper and cardboard, you can hope to see some advantage on the commodity end but mixed paper grades, plastics, and metal cans have been performing poorly in many regions. The Midwest has some better opportunities for plastics than here in New England but it isn't a big enough difference that I think you really count on it, unless you know someone and have a contract in place.

Also, check with your local municipal ordinances and licensing. Neither you nor your prospect(s) might be in position to even consider the idea that you will collect their recycling. The city may maintain an exclusivity arrangement with its constituents, either through their own services or through a contracted partner like Republic or WM.

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Thank you for for the advice. The exclusivity point is actually the one I am most afraid of because I think the city does have an arrangement like this, and I don't want to end up digging myself into a hole of fines. After thinking about it the last few days I do think I will even give them a quote. Honestly I think it could become a logistical nightmare and I can wait to do something like this until later in life, and I think it would be better to play it safe at the moment.

Knowing your limits aka picking your battles is a wise choice of action when faced with such choices.

You have to do what you feel is best for you. Go with your gut.

Sirscrapntruckalot - Load up the freightshaker! - Some dock man somewhere maybe

So an update, after talking to my sales prof he said that I shouldn't give up yet but before I try and provide this service I need to figure out what service I'm actually providing. And by that I mean:
- What materials will I accept?
- Who will buy what I have? What kind of quantity do I need to have before someone will buy it?
- I need to figure out a way to separate myself from my competitor, aka find commodities that nobody has done anything with yet up here. For example, when I ran a similar service years ago when I first started I found ways to recycle Styrofoam and plastic films and other weird things like ABS plastic. Living in Austin was perfect for this because its a very green city and my current city is not like that.
- How am I helping my customer? How am I making their business easier/improved?

Among other things. Those are really obvious questions but since I can't give a direct answer right now with all the unknowns, I think I need to spend this time learning more about the industry on a commercial scale, and that's why I'm trying to get an internship at a scrap or trash company.

But I haven't given up. I'm still going to be scrapping and I made my first E-waste purchase since 2015 right after that meeting. Getting 30+ iMacs for $50 tomorrow. Should make a decent profit. Keep grinding and moving forward.

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Originally Posted by Gravitar

So an update, after talking to my sales prof he said that I shouldn't give up yet but before I try and provide this service I need to figure out what service I'm actually providing. And by that I mean:
- What materials will I accept?
- Who will buy what I have? What kind of quantity do I need to have before someone will buy it?
- I need to figure out a way to separate myself from my competitor, aka find commodities that nobody has done anything with yet up here. For example, when I ran a similar service years ago when I first started I found ways to recycle Styrofoam and plastic films and other weird things like ABS plastic. Living in Austin was perfect for this because its a very green city and my current city is not like that.
- How am I helping my customer? How am I making their business easier/improved?

Among other things. Those are really obvious questions but since I can't give a direct answer right now with all the unknowns, I think I need to spend this time learning more about the industry on a commercial scale, and that's why I'm trying to get an internship at a scrap or trash company.

But I haven't given up. I'm still going to be scrapping and I made my first E-waste purchase since 2015 right after that meeting. Getting 30+ iMacs for $50 tomorrow. Should make a decent profit. Keep grinding and moving forward.

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I am not sure if you will take my suggestion. I am a greenfield start-up company incorporated according to Indian law. The main business model is to act as a middle man between aluminium companies around India. I am more looking for 6063 extrusion alloys. I would be starting from the city of chennai soon. As of now I got a GST registration (something like VAT) and waiting for Import permits (Import export code (IEC) number).


In the future I am planning to tryout more ideas like copper separation in insulated wire, e-waste recycling etc


If we can work together in the future having you acting as a bulk aluminium scrap supplier then lets look into possibilities.


My registered company name : "QUALSTEEL ENTERPRISES (OPC) PRIVATE LIMITED"


Company incorporation number (CIN) Number: U90009TN2018OPC122713


GST Number: 33AAACQ5395H1ZB


If you would like to contact me then please mail me at "my full name as it is" @ qualsteel DOT co DOT in

i dont know if bigburtchino is still around, but i remember him talking about trying to make his company zero landfill. maybe he would have some insights

A couple of points, but first kudos to you for actually finding a way to recycle styrofoam. I didn't know that was possible.

One thing to consider is the vehicle you will be using. Is it a car, SUV or truck? Is it yours? Will it need to be cleaned up every so often? (For instance, if you are going on a date after dropping off a load of trash)

Also, I don't know everyone on this forum well enough to comment on the integrity portion of working with somebody, but I do know that if you go on eBay, you will see that many sellers refuse to sell their wares outside the United States. Period! Why? If you have a disagreement with the other party, then how will you enforce it? If the transaction is totally in the U.S., you could go to arbitration or sue somebody. Outside the U.S.- GOOD LUCK!

No offense to any other posters- I just want to see this end up well for my comrade from Central Texas.