How To Start Your Own Paper Recycling Business

One of the easiest---and in fact one of the oldest ways of makingextra money--is by collecting old newspapers and selling them toa recycling plant in your locale.
Believe it or not, you can develop a very respectable incomecollecting and selling paper to the recycling centers. Itcertainly does not take any education, specialized training orexperience; it's as simple as saving your old newspapers andturning them in to a central collection depot.
Some "paper recyclers" are making more than $100,000 a year inthis business. In other people doing it, then there's no reasonYOU can't do it! About the only equipment you'll need is a pickuptruck or a trailer that can be pulled along behind your personalcar. We even found one "old timer" who was collecting paper inthis area with a pushcart! While interviewing him, we found thathe was deliberately choosing not to expand, although he verydefinitely could have.
The prices being paid for paper these days by the recyclingcenters will astound you (remember that the quotations we givehere may escalated sharply since our research). For instances,old newspapers are commanding $50 per ton and more; usedcardboard, $75 a ton; and high grade office paper as mush as$2120 per ton. This kind of money you onto Easy Street in ahurry. Everything, of course, depends on how well organized youare, and how hard you work at building your business.
Make no mistake about it, we live in a paper world. Americans use200 million tons of paper a year--for everything from dailynewspapers to books and cardboard boxes. After a quick use, wethrow away at least 100 million tons of paper, almost all ofwhich could be recycled. This means that there's about 8 billiondollars worth of paper out there that can be collected andrecycled each year. So if you are looking to start a businesswith real profit potential, what are you waiting for?
Just look around your own home. In the garage or basement, forinstance. What do you do with the old newspapers after you'veread them? How about all the mail you get each week? Chances arethis waste paper just piles up in a corner of the garage orbasement until one of the kids asks if he can haul it off for theschool or cub scout paper drive. Or maybe your wife and kids getambitious some weekend, clean out the garage and haul it off tothe collection truck at one of the local shopping centers. (Wesaid maybe!)
It's true that selling stacks of newspapers you've accumulatedduring the past couple of months or so won't make you rich. Infact, it's doubtful your own accumulation of paper will add up toa ton a year, and that certainly won't amount to much in extraincome. But think about the tonage involved in the stacks of oldnewspapers you can collect from your relatives, friends andneighbors. You could easily collect 100-pound sack of oldnewspapers from the people in your neighbor each week---andthat's your immediate neighborhood.
And then think about the total extra income you would have whenyou have hauled all this paper down to the recycling depot. Ifyou're serious, and get yourself properly prepared, you caneasily make $300 or more every weekend, and it won't involve allyour time. Some planning and effort on your part are the primerequisites.
Start by clearing a space in your garage for storage. One side ofa two-car garage, or any 8 by 12 foot space should be sufficient.If you have a garden shed that's dry, that would work well also.WE've even seen some paper collectors even rent space in aneighborhood mini-warehouse. We've even seen some papercollectors store their paper on pallets in their backyards, usingtarpaulins over it to keep dry. The important thing is to have aspace available to store your collected paper until you're readyto haul it to the recycling depot.
Being a firm believer in doing as little as possible of thephysical work involved in any business. I recommend you hirepeople to do a lot of this for you. BY that I mean you shouldcontact all the cub scouts, girl scouts, and civic organizationsin your area; tell them you'll pay them money for the paper theycollect and turn in to you. At the same time, contact thecounselors at the schools and colleges in your area and tell themyou'll pay them for all the paper they collect. The idea is toget everyone in your are collecting paper for you, eliminatingthe need to do the actual collecting your self.
How much of the gross profit you allow or pay these people who dothe actual collection is up to you. The average rate is $25 to$30 per ton when you are getting $50 per ton.
In the beginning, you may have to make a sign and tape it to theside of your pickup or car, and "pound the payment" yourself, butyou would expect to do this in starting any business. Basically,there's nothing to this excepting that it takes time you could beusing to do other things; but is there anything more importantthan getting your new business "off the ground?
A simple sign such as JOE'S PAPER RECYCLING SWERVICE--Phone123-4567, is about all that's necessary. You could have this madeup on a magnetic mat at most quick print shops. Have a collegeart student make one up for you on butcher paper, or have aprofessions sign painter produce one for you on a heavy cardstock.
With this sign on the side of your pickup, car, or trailer,simply drive through the residential neighborhoods of your area.Park in the middle of the block, get out and start knocking ondoors, asking the residents if they have old newspapers orcardboard boxes they'd like for you to haul away for them.Generally, you'll get an armload of old newspapers at everyhouse. Simply carry them to your pickup or trailer, then go on tothe next house.
If you'll set up a definite route to follow, certain streets oncertain days about once every two weeks, you'll find thehomeowners will have stacks of paper waiting for you. Regardlessof whether the person answering the door gives you a stack ofpaper,always leave a business card at each home.
Some paper recyclers offer to pay the people saving newspapersfor them, and having it ready for them when they make theircollection rounds. Generally, this isn't necessary. If you'lldevelop regular collection days for each street or neighborhood,you'll find the people putting papers out for you just as theyset out their garage for collection.
There are even some paper recyclers who charge the people to haultheir paper away. This isn't advisable, because once you starthauling rubbish, you'll end up doing clean-up work, and haulingmore to the dump than you do to the recycling depot.
Once you have your collection routes organized, you can hirestudents to make your collection rounds after school, and haulthe paper to your storage center. You can set up crews ofthree--one to drive the truck or car while the others knock ondoors on each side of the street.
Depending on how much paper each route gives you every two weeks,you could have a crew working several routes each day for minimumwage, probably a couple of tons of paper for every three hours ofwork.
Again, by hiring other people to do the actual collection workfor you, you'll only free yourself for other work, but you'll bemaking more money: Three people can do MORE in LESS TIME than ONEPERSON.
The next thing is to set up an area-wide collection depot. Thiscould be a pre-fab building on a vacant lot, a vacant car lot, ora closed service station.
In setting up an area-wide (or neighborhood) collection depot,you will need space--some sort of shed to store or stack papersin until you load them up and haul them to the recycling centerwhere you sell them. You'll need a scale to weigh them, and somesort of office or desk space to manage your cash and books.
You'll need space enough for your customers to drive beside thescale and unload their papers, and at the same time anarrangement whereby you can pay them immediately. A vacantservice station would be ideal. Your customers can pull in justas if they were going to purchase gasoline; you could have yourscale set between the driveways where the gas pumps are usuallylocated, and store your accumulating loads in the service area ofthe building.
In most cities or counties, you'll need a business license orpermit. For more details, see our report, BASIC STEPS TO STARTINGYOUR OWN BUSINESS.
You'll need a couple of signs, one on each side of the driveway.These will announce the fact that your but old newspapers. Theyneed not be anything fancy, just simple attention-gettingannouncements that you're open for business and paying for paper.Generally, the going rate for newspapers dropped off at a centralcollection depot is 2 cents per pound, and the papers need not bebundled. This will give the sellers $40 a ton for dropping themoff, and at $50 a ton, that will work out to $10 per ton profitfor you. (again, these rates are rising, so be sure you areabsolutely current by checking out the going price in your area.)
In addition to old newspapers, you should organize your time andschedule to call upon all the businesses, stores and warehouse inyour area. Talk to the business owners or store managers and askthem if you can haul away their old cardboard boxes.
If there's competition in your area, you might end up having topay for these boxes, provided they're clean. The thing to do isto call everybody who uses paper products or cardboard boxes.Remember, the more people you have giving you paper, the moremoney you are going to make. Many already established recyclingservices do not bother with smaller stores and warehouses, butthese add up quickly if you are diligent in finding a number ofthem.
Check close by in your surrounding area, and find out if thebusinesses are satisfied with their present pick-up system. Askfirst if you can "have" their old boxes; many of the smallerstores will give them to you because it decreases the load fortheir rubbish service to haul away. Where necessary, offer to pay2 cents per pound if they'll save them for you.
As mentioned before, the important thing is to get everyoneproviding paper for you--people collect and have ready for you topick up when you drop by on your designated collection day.Besides that, you start making really big money when you can parkyour truck in one place and fill it up from a group of closelylocated stores or businesses. With this in mind, you couldconceivably drive trough four blocks, making one stop in themiddle of each block, and have a ton or more paper or cardboardboxes every fourth block.
One other thing you'll need to efficiently handle cardboard boxesis a sharp knife with which to slit the sides of the boxes andflatten them as you load them onto your truck or trailer. Asimple "handyman's" utility knife costing about $5 will handlethis chore for you with ease. When you buy one, though, be sureto buy extra supply blades as well, because cutting throughcardboard will dull your knife very quickly.
Another paper products source: The offices in your area,particularly those with computers. The age of computers hasushered in more reports for offices then ever before, addingreams of paper to the average office trash basket. When you visitthese offices, take along a couple of "Save-a-Tree" boxes and askthe office people to discard all their waste paper into theseboxes for you---letters, envelopes, outdated reports and files.You can usually get the "Save-a-Tree" boxes at your localrecycling depot, and when full, we're talking about 35 to 45pounds of paper. Most offices will fill one of these boxes in aweek or two, depending, of course, upon their volume ofpaperwork. And while you're on this kind of "foraging" trip,don't forget to check in all the print shops. They waste andthrow away almost as much paper as they sell.
It will pay you to contract for a quarter page ad, or the largestad available that you can afford, in the yellow pages of yourarea telephone and business directories. Whether or not youadvertise the prices you pay in the ad is entirely up to you, butgenerally it's not a good idea to do so, because you would bestuck with those rates over the year. You might word your ad toexplain that you pay one rate per pound when the paper is broughtto you, and other rate when you pick it up and haul it away.
At the same time, you should run a regular classified ad, perhapseven one with words in the Contract Jobs section of your dailypaper. Your best advertising days will be Thursday throughSaturday. These are the days when people are specificallythinking about cleaning up around the house or offices. Also,these are the days when people think about what they can do toearn extra money.
This is the kind of business that "snowballs" with visibility andword-of-the-mouth advertising. It will definitely benefit you,then, to join the various civic and service clubs in your area,attend their luncheons and mingle with the business leaders inyour area. Volunteer to assist in some fund-raising events, andwhenever possible, become a quest speaker and tell about yourbusiness.
It isn't hard to stand up before a group of people and talk aboutyour business, particularly if you know what you're talking aboutand believe in what your saying. It does take at least an outlineof a script, perhaps a few notes, a rehearsal and the essentialingredient of enthusiasm.
Make your talk interesting and informative. Do some research andpresent statistics on how much paper the people of this countryuse each year. Explain the limited supply of timber, and the needto recycle as much as possible. Detail how these facts andfigures opened your eyes, and caused you to do something aboutit--to open your own recycling center. And then, lead you talkinto explaining how the recycling business is an avenue foreveryone to benefit; the ideal fund-raising endeavor, a cleanerenvironment; and a chance to preserve some forest land.
Getting free publicity for a recycling center can be easy. Inaddition to serving as guest speaker before civic and servicegroups in your area, you may find radio and television stationsand newspapers, and even weekly shoppers guides anxious to giveyou time or space.
By all means, try to get a story into these people detailing yourgrand opening, follow-up with appearances on talk shows, andpress releases about the different organizations raising money bycollecting newspapers and turning them in to you. Set up acontest among the different organizations, with prizes for theteams or organizations collecting the most paper. Hold special"Seniors Days" when you pay extra for all paper turned in bypersons of a certain age. Keep an eye out for angles such as thelargest amounts turned in, and stories about your regularcollectors who keep turning in paper regular until they attainmoney goals.
Emphasize you publicity contacts that recycling is a kind ofcommunity service that benefits all citizens. You're cleaning theenvironment, conserving timber, and putting money into thepockets of all who participate. Think about it; submit pressreleases to the media; calling them and inviting them to coverhuman stories emanating form your business!
This business takes organization, some energy on your part, andat least in the beginning, your time. But if you put forth theeffort as we have outlined, there's no reason you shouldn'teasily realize a very comfortable income with your own RECYCLINGBUSINESS. It takes effort on your part, but if you're looking fora lucrative business, you have here a plan to act on!