One
of the easiest---and in fact one of the oldest ways of making
extra
money--is by collecting old newspapers and selling them to
a
recycling plant in your locale.
Believe
it or not, you can develop a very respectable income
collecting
and selling paper to the recycling centers. It
certainly
does not take any education, specialized training or
experience;
it's as simple as saving your old newspapers and
turning
them in to a central collection depot.
Some
"paper recyclers" are making more than $100,000 a year in
this
business. In other people doing it, then there's no reason
YOU
can't do it! About the only equipment you'll need is a pickup
truck
or a trailer that can be pulled along behind your personal
car.
We even found one "old timer" who was collecting paper in
this
area with a pushcart! While interviewing him, we found that
he
was deliberately choosing not to expand, although he very
definitely
could have.
The
prices being paid for paper these days by the recycling
centers
will astound you (remember that the quotations we give
here
may escalated sharply since our research). For instances,
old
newspapers are commanding $50 per ton and more; used
cardboard,
$75 a ton; and high grade office paper as mush as
$2120
per ton. This kind of money you onto Easy Street in a
hurry.
Everything, of course, depends on how well organized you
are,
and how hard you work at building your business.
Make
no mistake about it, we live in a paper world. Americans use
200
million tons of paper a year--for everything from daily
newspapers
to books and cardboard boxes. After a quick use, we
throw
away at least 100 million tons of paper, almost all of
which
could be recycled. This means that there's about 8 billion
dollars
worth of paper out there that can be collected and
recycled
each year. So if you are looking to start a business
with
real profit potential, what are you waiting for?
Just
look around your own home. In the garage or basement, for
instance.
What do you do with the old newspapers after you've
read
them? How about all the mail you get each week? Chances are
this
waste paper just piles up in a corner of the garage or
basement
until one of the kids asks if he can haul it off for the
school
or cub scout paper drive. Or maybe your wife and kids get
ambitious
some weekend, clean out the garage and haul it off to
the
collection truck at one of the local shopping centers. (We
said
maybe!)
It's
true that selling stacks of newspapers you've accumulated
during
the past couple of months or so won't make you rich. In
fact,
it's doubtful your own accumulation of paper will add up to
a
ton a year, and that certainly won't amount to much in extra
income.
But think about the tonage involved in the stacks of old
newspapers
you can collect from your relatives, friends and
neighbors.
You could easily collect 100-pound sack of old
newspapers
from the people in your neighbor each week---and
that's
your immediate neighborhood.
And
then think about the total extra income you would have when
you
have hauled all this paper down to the recycling depot. If
you're
serious, and get yourself properly prepared, you can
easily
make $300 or more every weekend, and it won't involve all
your
time. Some planning and effort on your part are the prime
requisites.
Start
by clearing a space in your garage for storage. One side of
a
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 a
neighborhood
mini-warehouse. We've even seen some paper
collectors
store their paper on pallets in their backyards, using
tarpaulins
over it to keep dry. The important thing is to have a
space
available to store your collected paper until you're ready
to
haul it to the recycling depot.
Being
a firm believer in doing as little as possible of the
physical
work involved in any business. I recommend you hire
people
to do a lot of this for you. BY that I mean you should
contact
all the cub scouts, girl scouts, and civic organizations
in
your area; tell them you'll pay them money for the paper they
collect
and turn in to you. At the same time, contact the
counselors
at the schools and colleges in your area and tell them
you'll
pay them for all the paper they collect. The idea is to
get
everyone in your are collecting paper for you, eliminating
the
need to do the actual collecting your self.
How
much of the gross profit you allow or pay these people who do
the
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 the
side
of your pickup or car, and "pound the payment" yourself, but
you
would expect to do this in starting any business. Basically,
there's
nothing to this excepting that it takes time you could be
using
to do other things; but is there anything more important
than
getting your new business "off the ground?
A
simple sign such as JOE'S PAPER RECYCLING SWERVICE--Phone
123-4567,
is about all that's necessary. You could have this made
up
on a magnetic mat at most quick print shops. Have a college
art
student make one up for you on butcher paper, or have a
professions
sign painter produce one for you on a heavy card
stock.
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 on
doors,
asking the residents if they have old newspapers or
cardboard
boxes they'd like for you to haul away for them.
Generally,
you'll get an armload of old newspapers at every
house.
Simply carry them to your pickup or trailer, then go on to
the
next house.
If
you'll set up a definite route to follow, certain streets on
certain
days about once every two weeks, you'll find the
homeowners
will have stacks of paper waiting for you. Regardless
of
whether the person answering the door gives you a stack of
paper,always
leave a business card at each home.
Some
paper recyclers offer to pay the people saving newspapers
for
them, and having it ready for them when they make their
collection
rounds. Generally, this isn't necessary. If you'll
develop
regular collection days for each street or neighborhood,
you'll
find the people putting papers out for you just as they
set
out their garage for collection.
There
are even some paper recyclers who charge the people to haul
their
paper away. This isn't advisable, because once you start
hauling
rubbish, you'll end up doing clean-up work, and hauling
more
to the dump than you do to the recycling depot.
Once
you have your collection routes organized, you can hire
students
to make your collection rounds after school, and haul
the
paper to your storage center. You can set up crews of
three--one
to drive the truck or car while the others knock on
doors
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 minimum
wage,
probably a couple of tons of paper for every three hours of
work.
Again,
by hiring other people to do the actual collection work
for
you, you'll only free yourself for other work, but you'll be
making
more money: Three people can do MORE in LESS TIME than ONE
PERSON.
The
next thing is to set up an area-wide collection depot. This
could
be a pre-fab building on a vacant lot, a vacant car lot, or
a
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 papers
in
until you load them up and haul them to the recycling center
where
you sell them. You'll need a scale to weigh them, and some
sort
of office or desk space to manage your cash and books.
You'll
need space enough for your customers to drive beside the
scale
and unload their papers, and at the same time an
arrangement
whereby you can pay them immediately. A vacant
service
station would be ideal. Your customers can pull in just
as
if they were going to purchase gasoline; you could have your
scale
set between the driveways where the gas pumps are usually
located,
and store your accumulating loads in the service area of
the
building.
In
most cities or counties, you'll need a business license or
permit.
For more details, see our report, BASIC STEPS TO STARTING
YOUR
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. They
need
not be anything fancy, just simple attention-getting
announcements
that you're open for business and paying for paper.
Generally,
the going rate for newspapers dropped off at a central
collection
depot is 2 cents per pound, and the papers need not be
bundled.
This will give the sellers $40 a ton for dropping them
off,
and at $50 a ton, that will work out to $10 per ton profit
for
you. (again, these rates are rising, so be sure you are
absolutely
current by checking out the going price in your area.)
In
addition to old newspapers, you should organize your time and
schedule
to call upon all the businesses, stores and warehouse in
your
area. Talk to the business owners or store managers and ask
them
if you can haul away their old cardboard boxes.
If
there's competition in your area, you might end up having to
pay
for these boxes, provided they're clean. The thing to do is
to
call everybody who uses paper products or cardboard boxes.
Remember,
the more people you have giving you paper, the more
money
you are going to make. Many already established recycling
services
do not bother with smaller stores and warehouses, but
these
add up quickly if you are diligent in finding a number of
them.
Check
close by in your surrounding area, and find out if the
businesses
are satisfied with their present pick-up system. Ask
first
if you can "have" their old boxes; many of the smaller
stores
will give them to you because it decreases the load for
their
rubbish service to haul away. Where necessary, offer to pay
2
cents per pound if they'll save them for you.
As
mentioned before, the important thing is to get everyone
providing
paper for you--people collect and have ready for you to
pick
up when you drop by on your designated collection day.
Besides
that, you start making really big money when you can park
your
truck in one place and fill it up from a group of closely
located
stores or businesses. With this in mind, you could
conceivably
drive trough four blocks, making one stop in the
middle
of each block, and have a ton or more paper or cardboard
boxes
every fourth block.
One
other thing you'll need to efficiently handle cardboard boxes
is
a sharp knife with which to slit the sides of the boxes and
flatten
them as you load them onto your truck or trailer. A
simple
"handyman's" utility knife costing about $5 will handle
this
chore for you with ease. When you buy one, though, be sure
to
buy extra supply blades as well, because cutting through
cardboard
will dull your knife very quickly.
Another
paper products source: The offices in your area,
particularly
those with computers. The age of computers has
ushered
in more reports for offices then ever before, adding
reams
of paper to the average office trash basket. When you visit
these
offices, take along a couple of "Save-a-Tree" boxes and ask
the
office people to discard all their waste paper into these
boxes
for you---letters, envelopes, outdated reports and files.
You
can usually get the "Save-a-Tree" boxes at your local
recycling
depot, and when full, we're talking about 35 to 45
pounds
of paper. Most offices will fill one of these boxes in a
week
or two, depending, of course, upon their volume of
paperwork.
And while you're on this kind of "foraging" trip,
don't
forget to check in all the print shops. They waste and
throw
away almost as much paper as they sell.
It
will pay you to contract for a quarter page ad, or the largest
ad
available that you can afford, in the yellow pages of your
area
telephone and business directories. Whether or not you
advertise
the prices you pay in the ad is entirely up to you, but
generally
it's not a good idea to do so, because you would be
stuck
with those rates over the year. You might word your ad to
explain
that you pay one rate per pound when the paper is brought
to
you, and other rate when you pick it up and haul it away.
At
the same time, you should run a regular classified ad, perhaps
even
one with words in the Contract Jobs section of your daily
paper.
Your best advertising days will be Thursday through
Saturday.
These are the days when people are specifically
thinking
about cleaning up around the house or offices. Also,
these
are the days when people think about what they can do to
earn
extra money.
This
is the kind of business that "snowballs" with visibility and
word-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 in
your
area. Volunteer to assist in some fund-raising events, and
whenever
possible, become a quest speaker and tell about your
business.
It
isn't hard to stand up before a group of people and talk about
your
business, particularly if you know what you're talking about
and
believe in what your saying. It does take at least an outline
of
a script, perhaps a few notes, a rehearsal and the essential
ingredient
of enthusiasm.
Make
your talk interesting and informative. Do some research and
present
statistics on how much paper the people of this country
use
each year. Explain the limited supply of timber, and the need
to
recycle as much as possible. Detail how these facts and
figures
opened your eyes, and caused you to do something about
it--to
open your own recycling center. And then, lead you talk
into
explaining how the recycling business is an avenue for
everyone
to benefit; the ideal fund-raising endeavor, a cleaner
environment;
and a chance to preserve some forest land.
Getting
free publicity for a recycling center can be easy. In
addition
to serving as guest speaker before civic and service
groups
in your area, you may find radio and television stations
and
newspapers, and even weekly shoppers guides anxious to give
you
time or space.
By
all means, try to get a story into these people detailing your
grand
opening, follow-up with appearances on talk shows, and
press
releases about the different organizations raising money by
collecting
newspapers and turning them in to you. Set up a
contest
among the different organizations, with prizes for the
teams
or organizations collecting the most paper. Hold special
"Seniors
Days" when you pay extra for all paper turned in by
persons
of a certain age. Keep an eye out for angles such as the
largest
amounts turned in, and stories about your regular
collectors
who keep turning in paper regular until they attain
money
goals.
Emphasize
you publicity contacts that recycling is a kind of
community
service that benefits all citizens. You're cleaning the
environment,
conserving timber, and putting money into the
pockets
of all who participate. Think about it; submit press
releases
to the media; calling them and inviting them to cover
human
stories emanating form your business!
This
business takes organization, some energy on your part, and
at
least in the beginning, your time. But if you put forth the
effort
as we have outlined, there's no reason you shouldn't
easily
realize a very comfortable income with your own RECYCLING
BUSINESS.
It takes effort on your part, but if you're looking for
a
lucrative business, you have here a plan to act on!
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