Do recycling companies make money off of what they recycle? And how much?
Most people have to pay for recycling service, so they get money there. But they also sell the recyclables right? Is it fair that people have to pay to try to do something good? And if the recycling companies do make money on what is recycled then why can’t recycling be free… if it was free then more people would recycle and the companies would make even more money.
It takes people to make recycling work. They have to pay the employees that pick up the recycling, the empolyees that sort the recycling, the drivers that take it where it needs to go, ect…
In fact the opposite is true if it were free then there would be no recycling. Who would want to work for free? How would pay for gas to get it where it needs to go? Who would sort it out for free? Even if the service was "free" we still pay for it with taxes.
yes.
they make money on aluminum,
paper is probably a wash,
probably lose money on plastic and glass.
don’t know about steel / iron.
our recycler pays the town $1,000,000 a year to do the recycling.
at least that’s what i was told.
of course they do, or else they wouldn’t be in business. They are out to make money because they are in business, no different than Target or McDonalds. Your analogy would be "if McDonald’s makes a profit, then the burgers should be free".
Some places have "free" recycling. That is, you don’t see the immediate cost. Lansing, Michigan has "free" recycling – it gets paid for in city taxes. Because the city is doing it as a service, they aren’t out to make money. But, the profit is made by the company which actually provides the service on behalf of the city.
How much profit depends upon what is being recycled. The percentage of profit for simple things, like copper wiring or aluminum siding is pretty high – there’s little effort needed to reclaim the material into a useable form. Plastic requires much more processing to make it available for use again.
Some things are not a profit generating source for a business. Things like hazardous materials (old household chemicals, computer monitors, CRTs, etc.) are more complicated. Some hazardous materials can be recycled or reclaimed. some can be sold to another company for use as another material for another process.
Like many businesses, the actual profit for a specific waste material gets averaged with other profits. So, a recycling business might operate by loosing money on recycling computer monitors if it means they can get more copper, which is a higher profit material.
The company will be setting their price structure to obtain a desired profit. How they charge for specific wastes will be to obtain that profit.
Uhh they make A little to alot depending on what they recycle, And If it was free, they would cut down profits witch could cut down on work force or somthing like that.
We found a recycler that will take everthing except appliances with freon thats has not been emptied, plus they will not take TVs or monitors. They pay $150 per 2000 lbs. You can fill up your vehicles with junk (or small trailer) and you get weighed going in and out by their scales. We found it by googling "metal recycler XXXX" with XXXX being the name of your town or city.
hmm people have to pay to recycle? that sucks. i don’t have to pay anything in my area.
yes
A little but not more then 5 cents a can.
Recycling companies do make money – as somebody else has said they are a business like anyother and need to make money. Their profit margins are currently quite high because they get money in in 3 ways. Firstly they are paid by councils etc to collect the material (or the council rent recycling bins etc). Secondly they sell the material afterwards (eg. aluminium, glass etc) and thirdly there is a system of points for recycling which retailers and others who produce waste must pay and this is basically a subsidy system. Given we want recycling to increase the currently slightly high profits (30-50%) are there to encourage growth in the sector and as with any business model this will gradually reduce to a normal level over time when the market is balanced in supply and demand. This will probably happen by councils realising they no longer have to pay to have stuff taken away and that recyclers want the material (to make the money from the recoverered raw materials) and also the subsidies from government will be reduced over time.
I hope this helps!
yes they make plenty of money. if you take alum. cans to the junk yard and they give you $50. they sell it for $100. but dont forget they have alot of expenses, employee wages, taxs, electric, etc…
Yes they do and it is by he pound and by the element or product being recycled. They have to. They have to separate the different products and smash them into big bales for transport by truck or train. Then they sell it to company’s that do the melting and such. Equipment and shipping isn’t free or cheep. Not to mention man power.