Cardboard Scrapper 2016 - Page 2

Hi Gus4113,

If you are in Philly then you have probably run into me on the road while going to work or the supermarket. Ya, I'm the guy picking up those bales. I was just at Franklin Mills last week picking up scrap. I'm based in the other side of town but go there often. I just made it back from King of Prussia for a truckload today. I wish I collected from Wawa because I sure do go there enough for my smokes. The small bales are nice and easier to handle, but I need to break them down and re-bale into larger bales that my buyer wants. Extra work but not complaining. See you around town!

Originally Posted by Ace

How many just cardboard customers do you service monthly? At what rate do you pick up new customers? Just trying to get an idea on how many customers supply you with cardboard to get you to your monthly tonnage.

Ace,

Sounds like you want a nice clean number to plug into a spreadsheet, haha. But it's more complicated than that. Regular pickups I'd say are about 60-70 but some I pickup twice a week and others twice a month. The hospital I collect from has about 3 tons a week while the pizza shop I go to for lunch or the mechanic I bring my truck to probably doesn't generate more than a ton all year. Also, in Jan and Feb this year I only went collecting about once a week, mostly to by biggest suppliers. The weather was bad and my broker asked me to slow it down because Asia was closed for much of Feb for holidays. I also took a few weeks off in Oct after a busy summer season where my broker wanted everything I could get my hands on.

Basically when starting out, I asked for cardboard everywhere I went and left a business card with everyone. But I am really maxed out right now and couldn't take on more without hiring someone. The only new customers I take on are through word of mouth or located next to existing pickups when my truck isn't full. The focus now is on trying to do more with the companies I currently collect from. Waste Mgmt is an easy target because my business was built on their customers. Will need to think this over and maybe kick around ideas with this forum when the time is right. I'm off on my final collection tonight, then the weekend starts - woohoo!

Want to come to Michigan for cardboard?
I hate cardboard. It is a by-product of what we do.
We bale it. They weight between 1200-1500lbs per bale.
I don't like to fill my shop up with cardboard so I am selling it every few weeks...$50/ton picked up.

Regis, so it sounds like you have a baler and a box truck. How do you move the bales, a forklift? You also mentioned filling a trailer too (I think).

Would love to know more about your operation and how someone would start without such heavy equipment. I think that living near a port has to be a defining factor in making this gig work. May not be something that just anyone can do.

yes near a port helps...phily area the pa turnpike to jersey turnpike and the ports in norh jersey maybe hour and a half....and st. regiis...who dont go to wawa?....lol ...happy scrapping

Originally Posted by HipoGear

Regis, so it sounds like you have a baler and a box truck. How do you move the bales, a forklift? You also mentioned filling a trailer too (I think).

Would love to know more about your operation and how someone would start without such heavy equipment. I think that living near a port has to be a defining factor in making this gig work. May not be something that just anyone can do.

I currently have a 24ft box truck, a Harris baler, a Yale forklift, a Ford F150 pickup and a 48ft trailer that I use to store OCC in my yard. I bought everything second-hand except for my pickup. But when starting out, I only had the pickup and built up from there. When collecting I only use the lift on my truck and a pallet jack for bales. Not really heavy equipment. You just accumulate over time. I don't think the port is the key because you can also sell to mills in the US. I could probably sell to mills in NYS or VA. The key is commitment and hard work. There's no substitute for that. I'll tell you more about how I started out in another post.

You made topic of the week regis!

It's nice to see people out there busting their butt and still chugging along rather than complaining prices are down. I hope to be around the same kind of operation as you in the future. How much do you see yourself growing? Personally, I have big dreams and would one day like to own a mrf plant to deal with all types of recyclables

Originally Posted by ruben23

You made topic of the week regis!

It's nice to see people out there busting their butt and still chugging along rather than complaining prices are down. I hope to be around the same kind of operation as you in the future. How much do you see yourself growing? Personally, I have big dreams and would one day like to own a mrf plant to deal with all types of recyclables

Thanks Ruben23,

I hope to double over the next 2-3 years. I'm pushing to land a big client this year. If I do, that means I'll need to hire some help. The key is to be flexible because I can lose a big account just as easily. I may need to collect other materials because that's what my clients are looking for. I'd rather not go there but sometimes its beyond your control. I'm not a fan of MRFs because there's too much contamination once it reaches the facility. And that hurts the prices you get for the material. I'll leave that to the big waste companies while picking off their clients.

I apologize if this was mentioned already and I missed it, but you said you don't provide containers for your customers, and some just leave it outside? Have you ever had issues getting it in the rain? I would imagine wet cardboard is useless to your buyer?

Originally Posted by andyheim

I apologize if this was mentioned already and I missed it, but you said you don't provide containers for your customers, and some just leave it outside? Have you ever had issues getting it in the rain? I would imagine wet cardboard is useless to your buyer?

Hi Andyheim,

Rain is definitely a problem for me but mostly in the summer months when we get spot thunderstorms. Usually if rain is in the forecast I hustle and try to do my collecting before the cardboard gets wet. My larger pick-ups at the school and hospital have covered loading docks where its not an issue. And the bales I collect usually don't soak through so I just leave outside and air dry before loading. It is mostly the smaller pick-ups that get wet and those I'll just throw out. Not a huge amount at less than 5 percent of the total.

Just got some bad news from my broker. Prices are coming down another $5 per ton for the next month. That's gonna hurt as I'm close to my break even point. I guess I will need to tighten the belt a little more. No one said the life of a scrapper was easy.

Most scrap prices are down. It's really tough to be a recycler in these current times. Stick with it.

Just a quick update from me: Last week I convinced one of the office towers in downtown Philly to send me all their paper recyclables for free. I was in downtown for a meeting and saw a bunch of metal shelves in the loading dock that I thought were garbage. The building manager was there and said he was waiting for his waste company to drop a roll-off container to collect the shelves. It was going to cost him an extra $700. I said I'll come back with my truck the next day and won't charge you anything. We talked some more and he said I could have the paper recyclables every week. Turns out they had not been recycling much at all as their waste company was mixing their recyclables along with the regular trash. The building manager noticed this and wasn't too pleased after having his staff and tenants separate their waste. I went back the next day and picked up the shelves along with some wooden office furniture. Brought the load over to a scrap yard and got $75 (there was some aluminum with the steel). Now I think I can collect about a ton of paper and cardboard from them each week which adds up to about $3000 per year. I doubt that I am putting a dent in the waste company's revenues but I am convinced that it is pretty easy to take business away from them. Scrap on people!

Thank you for your service Mike. 100 more of these accounts would be a big deal. Maybe in a few years. For now I'm just about at capacity. Picking up this office tower will make up for some of the lost revenue from lower scrap prices. The scrap yard paid $155 per ton for tin. That was a $30 bump from the last time I was there. Things may be turning up on scrap pricing.

Just a quick update on my cardboard business. I have been busy and was able to secure a few more accounts in Phil with a furniture retailer and local college the most notable. I also purchased a second truck and hired someone part-time to help with collections. The second truck is on the road only 2-3 days a week but I hope to have it working full-time by year end. Pricing from my Asian buyer is improving. Last I wrote, he cut prices by about $5 per ton but they have gone up about $10 per ton since then for June OCC prices and $7 for mixed paper. Was told this is busy season for Chinese mills and they need more inventory. Volumes will probably drop a bit over the summer, hopefully with another pick up in Sep and Oct. If things keep up I will probably add another baler to handle the increased volume. I've been taking some bales directly from my customers and loading directly into export containers without rebaling. Just don't have time.

Getting into the hot season and will be taking a week off for vacation soon. My part-time employee has worked out well and I made him a full-timer at the end of June. He has been tailing me for over a month and is able to fill-in for me while I'm away. I added a new part-timer this past week and hope they will also work out. I think the business is finally taking a turn for the better and I see my role shifting from doing everything to focusing more on managing customers and growing the business. Prices have increased again for most paper grades and my buyer has been buying everything I have. These good times may not last, especially with the elections in November so I am starting to saving for a rainy day. Not looking to add any new equipment until next year. While doing my daily collections, I notice a few more scrappers out there as metal prices have rebounded a bit. Earlier this year, it seemed like I was the only one out there besides the waste companies.

Higher scrap prices create better business.