New Member - New Business.... Beginning of a new life..

It has been my goal to start an e-waste recycling company for the last 2 years of my life. I have been managing a fairly large private sanitation company in NYC for the last 3 years. Having seen an incredible decrease in paper collection over the last 5 years, I knew e-waste was what I needed to start thinking about.

I have access to a decent amount of electronics through my customer base. I even had the added bonus of charging them for the removal of their material. Not being able to legally break down e-waste as a company I got my universal waste handlers permit and started collecting and storing and selling e-scrap in large quantities. Currently, I have about 60 gaylords of assorted electronics. Roughly 20 tons or so...

Well... a calculated decision was made to sell the garbage company.. Part of the deal I made for myself was to take control over all e-waste collection for the next 3 years of both companies.. This has given me access to a customer base 6 times the base I had originally. Having worked for a company all of my life it is a completely new step to now work for myself. As you might imagine, I am very excited and anxious...

I just got a building and will begin full operations in the next few weeks. I have found this forum to be extremely helpful and informative and hope to continue learning and sharing what I learn as I move forward.

This is a rather large step and I know there are others here who have made similar moves. I was hoping some of you would share your experiences in starting a medium to large scale operation and some of the pitfalls you encountered that I should be aware of and possibly avoid.

Thank you for reading! I look forward to reading all of your stories moving forward, possibly doing business with some of you and growing this industry together.

Originally Posted by BRASSCATCHER

Where are you going to be located at. You should do well since there is a lack of ewaste buyers in the NYC area. Good luck .

My shop is in NJ just outside the Holland tunnel.. I don't know about a lack of buyers.. There are certainly companies out there vying over the available material... The thing is there is a lot of material in such a small area... These large offices turn over their equipment very very quickly. I remember prior to the downturn in 2008, companies were replacing their equipment almost every year... Obviously, that slowed down quite a bit due to the lack of disposable income.. But, now things are ramping up again.. I have seen it first hand in my customer's waste streams..

I read olddude's opinion. While I agree to a certain extent, I think his great fear of no more computers and only cellphones is a bit premature.. As the economy gets better and companies have a little extra money to spend they will replace their current units/workstations... It is inevitable.. The more money in system the quicker the replacement rate.. At least that is what I am banking on...

Wish you luck. I am going to jump into the e-waste full time by winter.

Welcome aboard, best wishes and God bless!