What type of yard should you open????

We'll having owned a fifty percent ownership in a large scrap yard, I would like to share with you what type of a yard would I open in 2014. The answer is a paper / cardboard recycling. The last few years the costs of opening a scrap metal yard have risen so much that only well established multi million dollar company's can sub stain the hurdles of opening a full service scrap metal yard. With out going into all the large cash lay outs for almost every thing needed, not to mention all the new government regulations and requirements making it almost impossible to over come, and then what's the guarantee you would turn a profit? Well opening a paper recycling center/yard has many benefits.

Ask your self where is the nearest paper recycling center near you, I bet many of you do not have one that you even know where it is. We'll let me just say that the competition is very little if at all, now in large city's you will have some but not very much at all. Now the important part, there are no government regulations that require you to in a way police your customers as what they can sell you and what they can not sell you like in the scrap metal business.
The need is there for paper recycling as much or more as it is for metal people just do not know where to recycle there cardboard or paper so now if you opened up you would solve that problem.
The costs for opening a paper/ cardboard recycling center are a fraction of what is needed for a scrap yard, while the profit margins are the same if not more. In these times opening a scrap metal yard to most are a dream, but opening a paper recycling center are realistic and could be easily done.

I'd want to open up a tire recycling facility. People would give them to you for free as everywhere you go you have to pay a disposal fee. Turn them into new tires, concrete, etc.

Mine would be a paper/plastic/ewaste recycling center.

Paper is good as long as you do different grades. Also could get a shredder and charge.

There is good money in plastics if you have the quantity.

And of course ewaste.

Ideal setup would be around $50,000 to $150,000 not including land and building.

Now in NH still would need permitting and such. Also cant store anything for over a year.

Yep i remeber hearing something like that like some woods like redwood and others pose a health and lung risk when they are cut and grinded into dust.The saw dust is toxic in some cases

The thing where i see the most promise is in energy production. Here in Maine we're out on the forefront with environmental & recycling issues but we're entirely dependent on foreign oil. Granted ... most of our fuels are imported from our friends in Canada but if there's ever a glitch in the supply chain we're gonna be looking at gasoline, diesel, and home heating oil prices of over 8.00$ / gallon.

It would be wise to diversify. Maybe take a look around to see what we have in our own back yard that could be used to produce energy.

We've got all kinds of wood. We use fresh cut softwood tree trunks to make paper and lumber. We run the smaller trees through a chipper and the chips have all kinds of uses. Some of the mills produce OSB. The most intriguing thing though is that at least one of the paper mills is using those chips in their bio mass boilers to produce electricity. It's a closed cycle clean burning process that's pretty darned efficient.

The hitch here is that you don't want to be transporting those chips over great distances because of the fuel needed to run the trucks.

Biomass is a low grade fuel but if it's locally produced and locally converted to energy it's well worth doing.

I always wondered if it would be feasible to set up a pilot plant and start dumping electricity into the local grid.

That would mean having a yard where you buy wood products from the local producers. You could also buy hardwood waste products and convert those to wood pellets. There's a huge demand for them here in the Northeast as a home heating fuel. So much so that we're importing them from Canada by the train load.

It's not likely that energy prices are going down anytime soon. There might be a future in diversifying our fuel sources so that we're not so dependent on imported oil.

There are a lot of reasons to stay away from used wood:

1: There's bound to be some pressure treated mixed in. The old stuff contains arsenic.

2: The cellular structure of the wood fibers change over time. Most of the places that i'm working on these days are over 70 years old. The wood structure is so badly degraded that it's all but worthless.You certainly wouldn't want to recycle it into a new building project. ( Decorative old wooden beams excepted.)

3: You never know what those products were treated with. Most of the traditional wood preservative products have been outlawed now because they're so toxic.

4: Wood that's been painted with lead based paints. Nasty stuff.

5: Unless the wood was originally kiln dried it was most likely insect infested. Critters like the Ambrosia beetle, Powder post beetle, and Long horn beetle can have pretty long life cycles and are wood borers in their larval stage. Once they start munching on your house it's hard to get rid of them.

I know some folks are sentimental about saving old houses and old wood but as a guy that works on these old places i don't see the charm. They pose a lot of on the job hazards to those working in the trades.

Hi,I'm in SW Fl, canyou point me in a direction /company to sell bailed paper and cardboard in your area? 40k semi loads Appreciate any info,already bought a horizontal baler

Originally Posted by heeb49

Hi,I'm in SW Fl, canyou point me in a direction /company to sell bailed paper and cardboard in your area? 40k semi loads Appreciate any info,already bought a horizontal baler

You might want to look up a company called Rock Ten just google them they have many company's located in many states, and operate under several names they also own a mill or two, they can buy any thing that you can supply them with they are also into plastic recycling.the cardboard is only a fraction of the paper recycling business, the real profit is in the mixed office paper, it used to be news paper but the demand is not as great as it used to be. You can set up a full service paper and plastic recycling center for just about the cost of a large excavator with a shear attachment. Good luck the horizontal baler is what you need. Also try the web site recycle in me for buyer and seller paper and plastic offers both domestic and international.

that sounds like a great idea to me, id like to do that with glass and plastic,,there are several paper buyers in my area, but zero glass or plastic buyers...ive often thought of opening a small yard that bought plastic and glass only.... there are absolutely no yards that buy these items any where near me..... i have found plastic buyers, but they want 20 thousand pounds minimum..... my biggest hurdle is my property is not accessible to a semi truck...this stops my idea dead in its tracks....

Last loads of paper I recently sold for the company I work for were OCC ($115/ton), Mixed paper ($53/ton), and #8 News ($90/ton). That is after transport charges and broker fees. All three were full loads of 22 tons each.

I am thinking broker fees were around $5/ton and transport fees were probably $1200 or so depending if it was a back haul or not.

Well let's do a little math OCC CARDBOARD recycling prices are $60.00 a ton, mixed paper they will take for nothing, and newspaper is $50.00 a ton, I think the price on mixed office paper they got was a little low, I can tell you that those profit margins are a lot better than yards make on steel and tin.also most paper recycling company's create there own markets and set the prices they pay with little or no competition, not to shabby. And no government regulations.

Mixed office is around $150 or so and white ledger is higher. Better you sort the better the money (just like metals)

Also, how often do you hear about people stealing paper compared to metal?

Paper, Plastic & Glass. Take ABS plastic and CRT's & TV's as well!!!!

For a yard dealing in Cardboard what is the main source of supply? Cardboard takes up a lot of volume per weight and isn't worth that much per pound so I imagine it's pretty hard to make work for people who don't own a baler. I'm guessing the main suppliers would be businesses who are trying to cut down on their waste disposal costs.

Originally Posted by Evan

For a yard dealing in Cardboard what is the main source of supply? Cardboard takes up a lot of volume per weight and isn't worth that much per pound so I imagine it's pretty hard to make work for people who don't own a baler. I'm guessing the main suppliers would be businesses who are trying to cut down on their waste disposal costs.

That is the biggest hurdle for anybody that gets into it. You need a constant supply. I dont think it is obtainable as a primary area but would be good as a secondary.

How about Compost? Granted take for free and then sell the good stuff! But if a hoomeowner did not have to pay to get rid of there "trash" it may work!