Originally Posted by
Catfish Bob
For years I've been wanting to open a small recycling company.
The best way I see to get my name out and get many customers to start with would be to offer free pickup. This will only work because I plan on being a one man operation, no employees.
Things needed.
1. Customers- between family and friends I estimate I'll be able to start right out of the gate with about thirty customers. With craigslist ads and flyers I should be able to get up to a hundred. I know a huge key will be keeping my customer radius as close to my shop as possible because of gas millage. Until I'm making enough to expand.
2. A shop- Have found on that will do to start in a great location as far as where I'll be taking my metal and paper to sell. The shop is for rent for $650 month but that could be negotiable as the owner does own the property outright.
3. Buyers of my material. I do not have anyone to sell glass or plastic too. This has been the biggest obstacle to starting the company I have been dreaming about for years. Have considered not offering pickup of glass or plastic. Personally think that would make me illegitimate to full recycling service.
4. Vehicle- 2004 Chevy short bed
5. Income- My idea is to offer free curb side/ door step recycling therefore all the companies income will come from material sells. It is very hard to estimate what one household pickup would be worth in material collected. My current estimate is that the average house hold would supply $2.00 to $3.00 a week in materials. This is if I can get a buyer of glass and plastic for at least $0.05 ton.
6. Totes for my customers to place there recyclables in.
7.A cheap flat bed dump truck and forklift would be nice.
Best thing I got going is that I'm in a metropolitan area of almost a million people and their is no free government recycling.
This post is a mess. I'm tired and why I'm posting this is that I basically want other peoples tips and advice that might of gone down this same road.
Everything here sounds good. When I was in ny, the way they had their places set up was in a strip mall for customer conveniance. Because NY does everything by the redemption value and not by the pound, they have a bin built into a counter customers would dump their stuff into and it would then be sorted. Going this route might be beneficial for you. If you plan on setting up a building somewhere and go out and pickup from customers, that might be a bit harder to do(free or not). For bins I'd go either wal-mart or US Plastic. Reguarding a buyer. Might want to look into a yard that might take mixed glass or plastic. If not, I'd smelt em into something fancy and sell it on
ebay.(I hear glass block sells pretty well).
On the flip side, for my situation(since I handle
ewaste only), I charge customers $20 a truck load to cover gas for a few days and am able to stretch my coverage out a bit(you never know if that one customer who's outside your coverage zone has connections to get you more stuff). I've found customers are ok with this and companies are better with it. I'll also be working out of a garden shed that's in the backyard because it's the perfect size to start from.
Just my 0.02 on the matter,
Matt
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P & M Recycling - Specializing in E-Waste Recycling. 
The ones that don't are the ones thought up after failure and reexamination of your original plans. All successful people have become successful by failing in one way or another. Keep on scrappin
and the best of luck to you. Everyone here is more than willing to give advice.
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