Justin Osborne
Whether you like saving the environment or you would like to exploit the business potential of doing recycling, you are in for a treat. This business sector has a lot of future potential growth and you can start off with a relatively small amount of money as an investment.
As more states are starting to realize the efficacy of using green solutions, there is more potential for you to have a share in this market. You can profit from what others consider trash or waste.
Place Recycle Bins
Most areas do not have recycle bins that collect recyclable waste but instead, all of the waste, including recyclable material, is taken to landfills. The environmental impact this has on our planet is immense. To make it a better place to live in, you can start your own initiative.
With your aldermen or city council’s permission, you can post durable plastic bins around your city or suburb. Plastic bins are not that expensive and you start with only a few and then expand from there.
You can use all-purpose bins to collect the waste and then sort it after. Alternatively, divide bins by color coding and use each different color for each different material that will be recycled. You can pinpoint high traffic areas and then post your bins there to heighten the chances of hitting a gold mine with recycling waste material.
Collect Scrap Metal
Old rusted metal gathering more rust in your neighbor’s backyards can also be a very lucrative business opportunity. You can collect scrap metal and compress it, if you have access to that type of equipment and then go to metal recyclers.
They usually charge by kgs so the more you collect, the more you will earn. This type of recycling might be labor-intensive, but it does not require a large investment. However, greater precaution should be taken when working with steel because it has rough edges that might cut you.
Because of the unhygienic environment surrounding most scrap metal, your cut might get infected and grow worse. So, grow and extra pair of eyes and buy high-quality PPE.
As a student entrepreneur or if you are taking up recycling business as a side hustle, it will take a good amount of time of yours. Donning several hats is not easy so to maintain a balance between your studies and business work, you can look for assignment help online to get your essay paper work done. A dissertation service can help you with thesis and term papers as well. Go through top resume reviews for finding the perfect online service to get your resume, LinkedIn profile and cover letter done.
Refill Ink Toner Cartridges
Refilling Ink Toner Cartridges can also be a lucrative business, but it may need little extra effort and resources. The price for refilling ink toner cartridges is quite high and some companies and individuals may choose to use the services of an ink toner cartridge refilling business.
Basically, the daily operations of an ink toner refilling business are taking in cartridges and selling refilled ones at a lower price. The usual price of refilled cartridges is half the price of purchasing a new one.
If you would like to start this business, you can buy ink and some special tools for the job. This business model protects the environment from potential harm from leaking chemicals. The ink cartridges discarded usually aren’t completely finished and these chemicals may leak into the ground or surrounding water.
Source Construction Sites
Probably there are constructions sites around where you live and every day there is inventory coming in. That inventory is wrapped in plastic, boxes, paper, etc. and that is what you can collect and recycle. Whenever you spot a construction site in your vicinity, drop by and speak to the man in charge and ask to collect and dispose of their waste.
You can also get a lot of other waste products like glass, concrete blocks and other building material that can be repurposed or reused. To spot potential sites you can collect from, drive around within a radius you are comfortable driving to collect those materials. You do not need much to start this business off, just a pickup truck or other vehicle that load the waste you collect.
Recycling Cooking Oil
You can ask people from your neighborhood to keep their used cooking oil and collect it on a certain day of the week. Cooking oil can be recycled in many ways, including recycling it to be vehicle bio-fuel. It can also be recycled to be used for cooking again. To stay on budget, you can be the middle man in this business.
Your job description would be collecting and taking it to bio-fuel manufacturers that use cooking oil to manufacture their oil. It is a low-cost investment business because it doesn’t require a large sum of startup capital. This business will save costs for households that partake in it because they will get returns on their used cooking oil.
Recycle Electronics
Electronics can be dangerous when discarded improperly because of their reaction with the sunlight and other elements. The battery can leak corrosive chemicals that make the soil around it dangerous for future potential farming. You can post special bins in well-shaded areas or pay a little amount for unused electronic products.
Take those items collected and then recycle it at an electronics recycling company. You can derive quite a bit of profit from these products because of their scarcity, which increases its value. The best part of recycling electronic devices is that you will never run out of recycling material because electronic products die every now and then. You also do not need a pickup truck to collect electronic products because most of them can even fit in a motorcycle storage box.
Tire Recycling
Car tires, bicycle tires and all other types of rubber tires are dumped annually at various locations around the country. The landfills for these rubbers are gradually filling up and will soon fill up.
To curb this, you can have a part in tire recycling in two ways. The first method is collecting tires and taking them to a professional tire recycling company that will recycle it accordingly.
Alternatively, if a tire can still go for a couple of extra years, you can opt to renew the tire threads to be acceptable by local authorities. It is a cost-free way to recycle tires and ensure that they reach their end of life before they are discarded.
Wood Recycling
Wood may not be considered as a recyclable material because it is a raw material. However, in consideration to deforestation and climate change, it was fit that a sustainable method to reuse old wood and timber be developed. As a result, a system to recycle timber was conceptualized and developed to modern mills with modern technologies.
You can have a part in this by owning a smaller version of the mills used or you can be the middle man in this case also. You can do that by taking old timber to recycling mills and getting that a certain amount of remuneration or by taking it to the mills and selling it afterward.
Conclusion
There are various methods of accessing the recycling business with a small amount of investment. You don’t require large capital or large machinery to start your own recycling business. This is because you can start where you are, with the resources you have at your disposal.
In this list, you probably recognized that you could recycle almost any material either by being the middle man or directly doing it yourself. Your initiative won’t only help you run a successful small business, but it will have a positive effect on our planet. It can save planet Earth from experiencing disasters like floods, hurricanes, melting icebergs, sea pollution and much more.