Start A Plastic Recycling Business - Business Ideas

Updated: September 15th, 2022
Start A Plastic Recycling Business

Please note that the data provided in this article are estimates and may vary depending on various factors, and should not be considered as perfect or definitive.

Plastic recycling involves recovering scrap or waste plastics and turning them into usable products in radically different forms. Recycling plastics has been around for decades and has been touted as a profitable business.

According to a study, one person uses about 30 kilograms of plastic annually. This results in over 900 million tons of plastic annually. However, only 9% of plastic is recycled, with 79% disposed to landfills and 12% burned.

To start a plastic recycling business, conduct comprehensive market research focusing on the plastic recyclers' functions and objectives to understand the industry better. You can visit several plastic recycling facilities and meet industry advisers to get answers to your questions.

Your market research should focus on the following aspects:

  • Outline the prerequisites for a plastic waste recycling company
  • Investigate the overall investment needed to set up a plastic recycling business
  • Determine whether a factory or land is required
  • Sources of plastic waste
  • Determine the equipment and utilities needed to start a plastic recycling business
  • Evaluate the profit margin in plastic recycling and the return on investment

Once you have enough information based on the above areas of focus, register a business, identify the location and obtain the trading license.

Starting a plastic recycling business requires a great deal of effort, dedication, and most importantly passion.

If you're interested in how to sell plastic recycle products, or selling plastic recycle products online, you can use this page as a guide for everything you'll need to know.

Key Stats

market size
$42.3B
starting costs
$18K
gross margin
90%
time to build
270 days

Startup Costs

Min Startup Costs Max Startup Costs

Employee & Freelancer Expenses

$151

$252

Website Costs

$223

$7,015

Business Formation Fees

$600

$4,700

Vehicle Expenses

$0

$10,000

Retail Business Expenses

$1,250

$6,650

Advertising & Marketing Costs

$75

$3,986

Software Expenses

$162

$2,720

Office Space Expenses

$0

$100

Specific Industry Expenses

$0

$500

Total Startup Costs

$2,461

$35,923

Successful Businesses

Business URL Rank

Plastic Pollution Coalition

plasticpollutioncoalition.org

383,335

Plastic Place

plasticplace.com

558,653

Plastic Bank

plasticbank.com

599,343

Plastic Film Recycling

plasticfilmrecycling.org

677,202

The Plastics Exchange. LLC.

theplasticsexchange.com

925,172

The Shakti Plastic Industries

shaktiplasticinds.com

1,093,230

Alliance To End Plastic Waste

endplasticwaste.org

1,194,507

EREMA Plastic Recycling Systems

erema.com

1,241,802

Green-O-Tech India

greenotechindia.com

1,294,448

The Association of Plastic Recyclers

plasticsrecycling.org

1,295,825

Home :: Agilyx

agilyx.com

1,431,522

Pros & Cons

Pros Description

Little startup costs required

The cost to start a plastic recycling business costs significantly less money than most businesses, ranging anywhere from 62 to 35,923.

Rewarding work

Starting a plastic recycling business can be really rewarding work. After all, you are solving an immediate issue for your customer and you're working on something you truly care about.

High customer retention rates

Once a customer invests in your product, they've invested their time and energy to utilize your product/service which is highly valuable to them. Typically, your product or service becomes indispensable to your customer.

Pick & choose the clients you work with

Plastic Recycling Businesses have the ability to choose the clients they work with. You have the freedom to work with only a few loyal clients or with hundreds of clients!

Control of workload

With starting a plastic recycling business, you have the unique ability to choose how little or how much you want to work. You also have the freedom to decide which projects you want to work on, and can turn down the ones that do not interest you.

Gain exposure and experience

This career allows you to gain experience working for multiple different businesses - which will benefit your resume and also keep things interesting for you!

Cons Description

Motivation of employees

If you plan to have a sales/content team on board, finding creative ways to motivate them can be a challenge. It's important that you're able to offer great incentives and a good work environment for your employees.

Longer Sales Process

A plastic recycling business can be a big time and money investment for your customer, so it's important you plan and predict a longer conversion funnel and stay in communication with potential customers.

Work can be inconsistent

As a plastic recycling business, the amount of work assigned to you and schedule tends to be more inconsistent, which may make your income less stable. It's important to set boundaries and budget accordingly based on the amount of work you plan to have.

Lack of benefits

With a plastic recycling business, you are typically self-employed and responsible for finding your own insurance, which can be quite costly and time-consuming.

Taxes

As a plastic recycling business, you typically pay self-employment taxes which can be quite high. It's important to understand what you will be paying in taxes each year so you can determine if the work you're taking on is worth it.

No safety net

Typically, as a plastic recycling business, you do not receive a consistent pay-check and instead earn money based on your transactions each month. During the slow periods, you typically take away less since the job is based on commission. It's important to budget accordingly for the slow times.