Advice Needed on an Ewaste Contract

Hey all, hope your scrapping ventures are going well. About a month and a half ago I started a small ewaste buying operation in an area with very little competion. I just got a call from the local landfill about filling their ewaste contract (80,000-100,000 pounds per year). I was not expecting to get offered a contract that large less than 2 months into my venture. For those who have gotten larger contracts is there any handy advice for what I should do? Is there any additional equipment I would need ( I have a trailer, truck, and small facility)? Thanks a bunch!!

Originally Posted by PartTimeScrapper

Get ready to find an outlet for TV's. I would guess that tha majority of the weight is going to be TV's

The good news is that they do not accept CRT's so those won't be in the materials I receive.

Originally Posted by mikeinreco

Since you looking for parts that can be re-used storage will be your biggest issue

hell, i would come work for him if i was able to work in the US & he was offering a good wage....from what ive read so far, he has a good, stable long term contract in the pipeline.

You really need to know what the mix is. It could be largely junk, a reasonable mix, or good stuff...that is important. This poundage sounds like a lot, but that is an average of 2k pounds a week. A day or two of labor. Truly evaluate what it is before you say yes. You could end up with a great deal or a noose around your neck.

Get a good insurance policy that has good liability coverage.

Honestly ... it might be too much too fast. It's more prudent to grow the business gradually over a number of years. Diving right in is high risk with the possibility of high reward. I guess it all depends on which approach to business best suits your own personal style.

You could tip the odds of success more in your favor with some kind of government subsidies. They've got a deal here in Maine where the bigger recyclers get an end of life thing for each item they recycle. The money is pretty good ... especially for CRT's. I would look into the specifics of what the Maine State Govt. is paying as end of life on different items.

The system in Montana probably isn't that far along so you might look into charging them for e-waste removal. Same basic idea as an end of life recycling fee but the municipality is paying it and not the state govt.

I would also look into what kind of permits you might need from the state or the fed. If you're big enough ... you're bound to end up on somebody's radar so you want to cover yourself on that end.

Thanks everyone for the good tips and advice! I really appreciate it. I ran the numbers, and then ran them again. I made the decision today to put in a bid on the contract (I'm fairly certain there will be only 2 bidders on it). I will definitely post the results when I find out what the plan is.

I know for sure that I don't need any permits for the ewaste (checked with both the EPA and DEQ) as long as I am selling them to another recycler and not refining them for their metals/exporting them. I do for sure know that they are predicting 90,000 pounds of ewaste this year, no CRT's are included in that 90K.

Originally Posted by 406Refining

Thanks everyone for the good tips and advice! I really appreciate it. I ran the numbers, and then ran them again. I made the decision today to put in a bid on the contract (I'm fairly certain there will be only 2 bidders on it). I will definitely post the results when I find out what the plan is.

I know for sure that I don't need any permits for the ewaste (checked with both the EPA and DEQ) as long as I am selling them to another recycler and not refining them for their metals/exporting them. I do for sure know that they are predicting 90,000 pounds of ewaste this year, no CRT's are included in that 90K.

Congrats on this exciting opportunity! I strongly second ozarkewaste's comment about knowing the mix. The bulk of it is likely to be tvs, vcrs, dvd players, stereos and the like, ewaste where the disassembly for full recycling can be well under minimum wage even with some experience. Make sure you're charging enough to cover things like stereo alarm clock recycling. Good luck with the bid!

As others have mentioned, there is likely to be some really low grade stuff in the mix that is not worth the time to disassemble. I would suggest looking into a small hammer mill, a conveyor, cross belt magnet and a zig zag separator. You would still have to hand sort the non ferrous and circuit boards. If you get a set up like this, I would suggest finding a buyer for Auto Shredder Boards and determine if you could sell under that category.

Originally Posted by mikeinreco

Are you paying or charging for this material

The bid was to pay $2.00 for towers, $5.00 for large servers (150-200+ pounds), $0.25-$0.50 each for routers and cable boxes, and various whole prices for about a dozen other items. A majority of the lower grade materials I will simply be picking up for free along with the other materials. It helps that their location is less than 5 miles from where I'd be scrapping all of this stuff.

Humm ... there might be a simpler way with less risk. Just charge them on a per pound basis for e-waste removal regardless of the quality of what's there. Bill it out on a monthly basis. For example: Let's say that you're charging them .20 cents a pound @ 8000 lbs a month. That would be a guaranteed gross income of 1,600.00 $ a month. That should be enough to cover your operating expenses and leave a little bit over to pay for labor.

Treat the " value recovered " as gravy ? Cut them in for 3 - 5 % of the net profits after expense in the form of a yearly rebate.

That way you would be covering your back in case the e-waste market fluctuates during the term of your contract with them.

Worse case: You should be able to scrounge out 150.00 - 200.00$/week for your labor, you make little or nothing on the gravy, and you don't owe them very much at the end of the contract.

Best case: You make 350.00 $ / week on labor, you make a bit on the gravy, and they get a nice little stipend at the end of the deal.

It's all about risk management ? You try to protect your margin as much as possible by shifting the risk on to the customer ?

One other permit item even if you don't need an ewaste specific permit you still might need a solid waste permit. Should check it out just in case.

Originally Posted by JJinLV

One other permit item even if you don't need an ewaste specific permit you still might need a solid waste permit. Should check it out just in case.

Turns out I do need that permit. The application process is not very hard and I should have it finished and sent in by the end of the week. Thanks for the suggestion!