Recycling Service
What will I be doing ?
Recycling has become big business. As much as 50 percent of materials in some automobiles come from recycled materials. Other products also depend on recycled materials, which are often recycled for profit.
For example, one recycler was a man who stopped at furniture stores once a week to haul away the boxes that dinettes and chairs were shipped in. He did the store a service at no charge, disassembling the boxes so they lay flat in the back of his pickup truck. Once he had a full load, he took it to a cardboard recycler in a nearby city where he sold the load by weight.
What will I need to start ?
To recycle for profit, you must know something about the needs of your customers and buyers. Many customers will give you the materials in exchange for hauling them away.
You’ll probably need some way of transporting what you recycle. Many recyclers use a pickup truck or an open trailer pulled by a car. For smaller items, the trunk of a sedan may offer enough storage until your business gets off the ground. An enterprising recycler started his business by walking along rural roads as self-appointed litter patrol, picking up cans and bottles that offered a return on deposit.
Who will my customers be ?
Your customers will be wholesale recyclers. These are the folks that will buy your materials for recycling. To find wholesale recyclers, check area telephone books under recycling and related headings, depending on what you will be collecting : cans, bottles, scrap metal, glass, paper, cardboard, plastics or all of the above.
How much should I charge ?
You will be paid by your ability to find profitable materials for recycling. At first, your efforts to recycle may only earn $10 to $15 an hour. Once you’ve found materaials in greater demand and a market for them, you should be able to earn $25 to $45 an hour. Most recycled materials are resold by the pound, based on fluctuating local market conditions.
With experience, you’ll also get better at estimating material value, at negotiating and at knowing current market value of materials. You may also find additional customers for your materials, giving you alternate places to sell.
Overhead expenses directly relate to your costs to transport materials from your resources to your customers. If you already own a pickup or a car and open trailer, initial expenses will be smaller.
How much will I make ?
Your price may vary. How much you will make as a recycler depends much on what you know, what you do and for whom you do it. A full-time recycler can make a net income of $25,000 to $40,000 a year. Some do even better.
How can I get started ?
The best way to start a recycling service is to start learning what you can about it. Call recyclers in the telephone book. Check with municipal and state offices for government resources and guidelines. Ask people you know about recycling and whether they have any resources or contacts.
Next, select a customer for selling your materials for recycling by contacting businesses in your area that use materials that can be recycled. Then find resources for these materials. Finally, start gathering materials for recycling and begin the learning process.
The SIC code for recycling service businesses is 5093-12
From the book of Dan Ramsey, Title : 101 Best Home Businesses, CAREER PRESS, 3 Tice Road, P.O. Box 687, Franklin Lakes, NJ 07417, 1-800-CAREER-1, 201-848-0310 (NJ and outside U.S.), FAX : 201-848-1727
You should check these out :
