Starting in co-mingled recycling

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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