How to make money from garbage: the story of Arseniy Sheromanov, owner of a waste processing plant. Turning garbage into money, or how to open your own waste recycling plant

Under the natural conditions of a modern landfill, waste decomposes within a month, newspapers, cardboard, fallen leaves - up to 4 months, cans and old shoes - up to 10 years, and batteries, tires, plastic bottles and glass - up to 100, 140, 200 and 1000 years, respectively. Considering their annually increasing volume, humanity very soon risks drowning in the waste products of its vital activity. Moreover, it is no longer possible to combat the problem through banal arson, since large-scale flows of smog can cause irreparable harm to the health of the population. In this light, the issue of recycling becomes of great importance.

The state is taking certain steps in this direction, but business is more able to cope with the task more effectively. In Europe, waste recycling generates huge profits, which has caused high competition in this area. On the territory of the Russian Federation, the industry is still poorly developed, which gives excellent chances to eventually take a leading position, becoming one of the largest suppliers of secondary raw materials to industrial enterprises.

Industry Features

The profitability of a medium-sized waste recycling plant can reach 30% or more. However, when organizing production, an entrepreneur will face a number of difficulties.

The cost of a complex designed for the collection and delivery, reception, processing of solid household waste(MSW) of most types (excluding hazardous ones, for which work requires obtaining separate licenses and high-tech equipment) will require more than tens of millions of dollars. Moreover, the largest part will be the cost of the installations themselves. In addition, you will have to look for a production area larger than 500 m² and corresponding warehouses. In most cases, building from scratch is more profitable than renting, despite the high costs. One of the additional items in this case will be the laying of communications, obtaining permits, licenses, approvals, and so on.

Government support, loans, grants and other ways to obtain additional funding will help make the start easier. During negotiations, remember that the introduction of modern and safe methods of waste recycling is beneficial to local authorities. This can be a good argument in favor of allocating land or providing optimal premises.

Entrepreneurs who are not yet ready for such large-scale investments can carve out their niche with local projects. For example, organize the reception of already sorted waste certain type. Or just its processing. In this case, you will only need to purchase a complete line for working with one or another type of raw material (most often, we're talking about about paper, glass or plastic).

Types of solid waste in terms of profitability

Ideally, a full-fledged plant should perform the full range of functions for sorting and processing waste:

reception of municipal solid waste (sorted and mixed);
sorting and processing of suitable resources (waste paper, polymers, broken glass, textiles, scrap metal);
production of structural products from recycled secondary raw materials.

However, in practice, novice entrepreneurs most often choose a narrow area of activity. In this case, several typical “scenarios” for the operation of an enterprise can be distinguished, depending on the chosen type:

Cardboard and paper. In this case, you can organize a small enterprise that collects, presses and sells the resulting product, or open a full-fledged processing plant.
Polymers. Similar to the previous point. The most common companies collect waste and make recycled pellets from it, which are then purchased by companies that produce plastic products.
Glass. As a rule, entrepreneurs choose between collecting containers (cullet glass) and running a recycling business.
Tires. Here we are most often talking about full-cycle enterprises - from collection to processing. Work can be carried out according to one of three algorithms: collection of worn-out materials from motor transport enterprises, purchase from the population with the organization of collection points, or paid acceptance for recycling.

The priority work strategy and type of raw materials are determined based on several factors, individual for each settlement. The most important of them is the standards for accumulation of solid waste. This indicator indicates their quantity formed per unit of time under certain conditions. Knowing this, you can quite accurately calculate how much raw material can be obtained by working at certain territory.

Speaking about profitability, the following data can be given:

aluminum, steel, other metal - almost 100% of the resulting raw materials are processed;
textiles - depending on the type of fiber, up to 50% of the material can be recycled;
waste paper - the share of useful raw materials in unsorted waste is about 35%;
glass - similar to waste paper.

When considering the prospects of this business, it is also necessary to take into account the liquidity of raw materials. It could be:

Highly liquid- a class of secondary raw materials from which, as a result of processing under existing conditions, it is possible to obtain products in demand by customers and sell them profitably. This includes scrap metal of all types, clean waste paper and textile industries, cullet without impurities, etc.
Moderately liquid- Solid waste of average quality, suitable for producing in-demand products, but not highly profitable (the cost of the finished material is approximately equal to the cost on the market). This is mixed waste paper, cardboard, plastic with impurities, textile items, large wooden elements, broken glass, tires.
Low liquidity- requiring significant effort for disposal and unprofitable for recycling. These are moisture-resistant cardboard and paper, polymer mixtures, bird fluff, glass cullet with significant contamination. In this case, you can earn income by recycling waste at the expense of the supplier.
Illiquid- hazardous waste that cannot be disposed of. For example, multilayer polymer packaging and laminated paper are not suitable for obtaining secondary raw materials, so they are processed at the expense of the customer or special sources of funding - municipalities, etc.

On at the moment In the Russian Federation, about 93% of garbage is disposed of in landfills and landfills. Considering the volumes, many entrepreneurs have every chance to occupy a worthy niche in a developing business.

Where to get raw materials?

The simplest, but also the most labor-intensive way is to negotiate with the management of landfills or the municipality about the possibility of independently selecting necessary trash. As a rule, at this stage it is beneficial to involve an “asocial element” in the work.

A “cleaner” technology is to conclude agreements with markets, institutions, and enterprises for the removal of sorted waste of the category you need. In this case, “they” reduce the cost of waste removal, the entrepreneur receives necessary materials. True, this does not work with all types of garbage.

Where to sell recycled waste?

One ton processed and compressed polymer waste on the market it costs about 15 thousand rubles, aluminum cans - about 50 thousand rubles, crumb rubber - about 16 thousand rubles, cardboard - about 12 thousand rubles. The daily productivity of the average capacity of a waste processing line is 8-10 tons of recyclable materials. Accordingly, the monthly turnover will be several million rubles, depending on other initial data.

For the most part, consumers of recycled waste paper, tin and polymers are various industries. Such companies are present in different regions and, as practice shows, they are happy to purchase raw materials from local manufacturers. However, it must be remembered that the consumer is already accustomed to comfort and prefers to receive high-quality purified and carefully compressed raw materials, which are easy to work with and convenient to store.

What documents are needed to register a business?

Each country and even region will have its own characteristics of registering a waste recycling enterprise. Therefore, it is necessary to visit a number of authorities and consult with specialists from each of them. When opening a business abroad, it is advisable to immediately enlist the support of a qualified lawyer.

The priority form of business registration will be or its equivalent in your country. In the Russian Federation, for this you need to provide the company's charter, articles of association, minutes of the meeting of owners and an application (form 11001).

Large financial flows in the process of operations make the OSNO taxation system optimal for the plant. In this case, income tax will be 20%, and VAT - 18%. At the same time, the entrepreneur is not subject to restrictions on the number of personnel, the value of property, etc. When registering, code 38 is indicated, which allows you to recycle and dispose of everything.

Since most types of solid waste are classified as hazard class 4-5, it is necessary to obtain a processing license, which is issued by the district Rosprirodnadzor. Specialists will conduct an environmental assessment and issue a permit. Next, permission will be required from the SES, water and municipal services of the locality, as well as fire departments. In total, registration issues take from 3 to 4 months.

Recruitment

Since waste sorting and recycling are “dirty” processes with low wages, there are not many people willing to fill the vacant position. However, to launch even a small plant, it is necessary to include 25-30 employees on staff. And even if they are found from the first moment, you need to be prepared for staff turnover - not everyone can withstand prolonged contact with garbage.

In order to retain existing staff and attract new ones, an entrepreneur needs to optimize salaries for a particular region, take care of comfortable working conditions (uniforms, disposable protective elements, showers), and think through ways of motivation. Salaries to employees are the main expense item, but at this stage of industry development, an enterprise simply will not function without people.

Processing technology

At a universal plant, the waste recycling process includes the following stages:

Waste delivered from the landfill is unloaded onto a receiving site, where large-sized waste - construction, household appliances, furniture items, etc.
Using a loader, the remaining mass is transferred to a receiving hopper, from where it is fed onto an inclined and then onto a horizontal conveyor.
On a horizontal conveyor, waste is sorted by type. This operation is performed manually by employees of 8-15 people.
Sorted waste is placed into carts through hatches in the overpass and delivered to presses (each for its own type of waste).
The waste is pressed into briquettes, tied and sent to a warehouse, and then to the customer, as a rule, for further processing.

Required equipment

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The configuration of the waste processing technological line depends on the type of solid waste and the scale of activity. A classic full-cycle installation (from waste reception to compaction and storage) includes a number of units:

Reception bunker. This can be a container or a concrete covered area where bulky waste is removed from the mass of waste. The supply of solid waste to the conveyor can be carried out automatically or using loading equipment.
Receiving hopper with plate conveyor. This unit is necessary for uniform supply of waste for sorting.
Separator. This is where small fractions of waste are sifted out.
Horizontal Belt Conveyor. In most cases, it is serviced by operators who select certain fractions and dump them into separate containers. Depending on the types of waste selected for processing, the number of operators (and the containers themselves) may vary.
Main separator for collecting ferrous metal(usually located at the end of the conveyor).
Receiving hopper for waste that cannot be recycled.
Storage bins for sorted ones.
Baling presses- separate for each type of waste.
Storage for bulky waste.

In addition to the equipment listed, consumables may be required for recycling. For example, to prevent delamination and scattering of finished briquettes at the pressing stage, special compounds are introduced into the mass. Another option to make transportation more comfortable is to purchase a binding line, where the briquettes are wrapped with strap tape or polyester film.

How much does the whole complex cost?

Construction from scratch of a universal plant designed to collect and process the maximum possible number of types of waste (from waste paper and plastic to rubber and glass) will cost about $20 million. A small workshop designed to work with a specific type of raw material can be organized for 50-200 thousand dollars.

A couple of years ago " garbage business» people from RAO UES decided to do it. The total investment in the Eco-System Group of Companies amounted to 16 billion rubles. The profitability of this area is estimated at 30%, which, together with the required volumes of cash injections, makes it unaffordable and uninteresting for small and medium-sized businesses. Contrary to popular belief, in Europe, the construction of solid waste recycling and processing plants is also mainly carried out by energy giants. For example, the German E. On is building a not very large plant in Cardiff.

In this material:

Waste recycling as a business is an extremely promising activity for investment. This socially significant activity has a positive impact on the environment.

It was not profitable enough 2-3 years ago. Recycling of recyclable materials and disposal of waste to landfills provided great profits. Much has changed since then. Today household waste At least 60% recyclable.

Business idea concept

The average person throws out up to 250 kg of garbage per year. The problem of waste disposal and reuse has become urgent.

Many components of waste can be recycled, but up to 96% of waste is sent to landfill.

Advantages of waste recycling business:

Since the waste recycling sector is practically not funded, local authorities, as a rule, have a very favorable attitude towards the waste disposal business. The city administration provides financial support and helps find industrial premises.
Enterprises that recycle waste are always in demand. Recycling and recycling of waste allows you to save primary raw materials. New companies in this segment are created every year.
You can use a sorting complex. This is inexpensive equipment created by domestic manufacturers. Its use will reduce costs.
High economic efficiency. According to professionals, the profitability of a waste removal and disposal business can be up to 80%.
Garbage is a valuable raw material. The waste recycling business is profitable because there is very little competition in this segment.

Starting a business from scratch

Everything useful should be extracted from garbage whenever possible. For this it is important to create appropriate conditions.

Legal registration:

It takes several months to prepare documents for carrying out commercial activities. Obtaining a license from the Department of Rosprirodnadzor is a mandatory condition.
To issue a permit, an environmental audit is carried out by the local Department of Environmental Management. A project with a detailed description of the technological process must be submitted to the water and utilities, Rospotrebnadzor, fire inspection.
A sanitary zone of 500 m must be created around the waste treatment plant, as established by the requirements of the regulatory authorities. Based on the results of this work, a conclusion is drawn. At least 2 thousand dollars must be invested in order for the production facility to meet the requirements of industrial sanitation and fire safety.

Financial component of entrepreneurial activity

It is important to find ways to attract investment to start a waste recycling business.

Starting capital required:

Initially, only the initial stages of processing recyclable materials can be launched. The company can collect and sort waste and create semi-finished products. The organization of a universal waste disposal enterprise requires significant material costs, so the entrepreneur should decide in advance what types of secondary raw materials he will work with.
Residents are not inclined to sort the garbage they throw away for free. It is necessary to set a certain price for waste paper or bottles.
How to choose a location for a waste recycling business? A production area, landfills, and sources of waste are an ideal solution to create a company that processes recyclable materials.
Deep recycling of waste can bring maximum profit. According to experts, over $20 million is needed to build a large universal complex that will process any type of solid waste: glass, paper, plastic, rubber, wood.
If the entrepreneur does not have this opportunity, you can start recycling one type of waste. From 50 to 300 thousand dollars will be required to create a specialized production facility for the recycling of one type of secondary raw material. Such a modest enterprise can generate significant income. The waste recycling business has a large share of utility costs. They make up about 20%.

Garbage recycling

Construction waste contains concrete, wood, brick and metal parts. Extracting metal particles is the purpose of recycling. Vacuum forming of polymer thermoplastic waste is a relatively inexpensive method. Crumb rubber is obtained from car tires, from waste paper - toilet paper, from polymers - pressed blocks, chipboard - from sawdust. Only 25% of valuable recyclables can be obtained from unseparated waste, so it is necessary to use modern waste sorting lines. Installations for sorting recyclable materials can be automated or manual. Plastic and paper are the best to use.

food waste - 25%;
cardboard and paper - 10%;
polymers - about 50%;
textiles, rubber, metal, etc. -15%.

Plastic packaging is the most difficult waste to recycle. Obtaining recycled crushed stone by recycling recyclable materials is very profitable.

Production goes through the following stages:

large parts are processed using a press;
then using a crusher they are crushed;
metal is selected with a powerful magnet;
Particles are sorted using a special storage device.

Organization of production and supply of raw materials

For production, a premises of about 600 m² is required. The warehouse must be at least 100 m². It will be possible to significantly save on the removal of raw materials if the recycling facility is located near residential buildings.

The area where a lot of old buildings are being demolished is suitable for recycling construction waste. To transport raw materials, you need to purchase a truck with compartments. Disposing of recyclable materials is a labor-intensive process.

About $300 per month must be paid to qualified workers. Up to 40 workers can be involved in such production.

The expensive process of creating a company for processing recyclable materials provides real income in the future if you approach this problem correctly.

The income of a waste processing enterprise depends on the scale of activity. You can recoup the initial investment in 1 year. Then the scope of your activities can be expanded.

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Purpose of this project is the creation of production, main activity which is the processing of waste with the further production of valuable fractions that are suitable for processing and subsequent compaction by 5-7 times and briquetting into blocks. The business plan provides calculations of investment and profitability for an enterprise with a capacity of 100,000 tons per year, and also assumes possible expansion into a network of processing complexes.

A business plan for waste recycling is an opportunity to assess the prospects for implementing a waste disposal project, reduce the environmental load, improve the sanitary situation, and comprehensively solve the problem of solid waste.

This business plan involves the creation of a production infrastructure for plastic processing, as well as the opening of production, the basis of which is the production of marketable products secondary production: paving slabs, building and finishing structures, environmentally friendly insulation, packaging containers, compost, etc.

The introduced waste recycling technology makes it possible to return valuable secondary resources (paper, ferrous and non-ferrous metals, cardboard, plastic, glass) back into circulation, reduce the number of landfills and landfills, and simplify waste storage. The project has significant economic and environmental significance.

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Analysis of potential consumers and sales market

The problem of solid waste does not lose its relevance, since it is directly related to the normal life of the population, sanitary cleaning of cities, environmental protection and resource conservation. The waste that is generated as a result of human activity is nothing more than a heterogeneous mixture of multi-level morphological composition. A city dweller annually produces more than 200-300 kg of waste. Delaying the removal and disposal process leads to global epidemics and serious urban pollution. The business plan suggests extracting maximum benefit from recyclable raw materials and make it an energy source.

The attractiveness of this type of activity is observed both in the category of private and larger-scale investment. The conducted research indicates that the services and products of this enterprise will be in steady demand among production and procurement companies secondary resources, industrial enterprises and paper mills.

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Business case based on process features

As a result of recycling plastic waste, secondary polyvinyl chloride, polyamide, polyethylene and polypropylene are formed. Any enterprise whose activities are not related to food and pharmaceutical packaging can use recycled plastic.

Implementation recycled polyethylene carried out in the average price range from 8.8 to 18 rubles per 1 kg. Correct organization of the technological process makes it possible to obtain 0.8 kg of polyethylene from 1 kg of plastic. The entire mass of waste thrown out daily by the population consists of 25% food waste, 10% paper, 50% polymers, the rest is textiles, metal, glass and rubber.

Classic disposal methods are currently ineffective and potentially dangerous due to the emergence of “landfill gas”, which provokes the greenhouse effect.

Methods for recycling various wastes

Solid waste in the form plastic packaging are the most difficult to process. There is currently talk about introducing a waste separation system, but the legislative framework does not regulate this process. Therefore, a business plan will help to analyze all prospects for creating primary capital in this segment and assess the opportunity to occupy a production niche.

Using a press for sorting and recycling solid waste, you can get 8 tons of waste paper, 1,000 kg of polymers, 200 kg of aluminum cans and plastic bottles within a month. A ton of recyclable materials is estimated: waste paper - 1,500 rubles, polymers - 9,000 rubles, aluminum cans - 15,000 rubles. Such indicators allow us to expect production profits of 17,000-18,000 rubles per month.

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Technological features of the project implementation

The business plan involves the implementation of a project designed for an area of 600 m², including a processing workshop - 500 m² and a warehouse - 100 m². Each of the above premises must comply with sanitary and fire safety standards and requirements. Implementing these requirements will require a capital investment of $2,000 to $3,000. When choosing premises, preference should be given to the urban outskirts or industrial zone of the city; the minimum distance from residential buildings is 600 m.

To process solid waste, you need a sorting line, a crusher, a press, a storage hopper, a magnet and a number of other technical devices, the choice of which will depend on the scale of the enterprise and the investment base. When choosing between domestic and imported equipment, take into account the fact that domestic models are simple and economical to maintain, but are not inferior in performance, efficiency and versatility.

A feature of solid waste processing is that it involves the use of manual labor. For this reason, even for a small enterprise, the business plan is designed for 40-50 service personnel. The shift work schedule involves working a shift of 10-15 people with an average salary of 15,000-20,000 rubles.

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Investment requirement of the project

The analysis allows us to conclude that the creation of an integrated waste processing enterprise requires an investment of 20 million dollars. Such a complex will make it possible to effectively process all types of solid waste, including rubber, plastic, wood, glass, paper, and metal. To organize a workshop whose activities are based on the disposal of one type of waste, about $150,000 is required.

Launching an enterprise of this type requires obtaining a number of permits. First of all, we are talking about a license from the Ministry of Ecology, which allows for the collection and processing of solid waste. To obtain it, it is necessary to undergo an environmental assessment, the results of which are confirmed by an environmental report.

Having received this conclusion and project documentation and description technological processes processing plant, it is necessary to obtain permission from the city's municipal and water services, sanitary and fire services. It is mandatory to obtain permission from the waste department of the Ministry natural resources and ecology of the Russian Federation on the generation and disposal of waste on its territory. Obtaining permits and licenses takes about 4 months, which also takes into account the business plan.

At the beginning of the 20th century, many European leaders feared an environmental disaster due to the accumulation of horse manure on the streets of large cities such as London or Paris. And they predicted that in the middle of the 20th century all residents would be mired in horse waste products.

At the beginning of the 21st century, everyone, without exception, is concerned about a problem of a different nature: mountains of garbage, which, compared to horse manure, are real threat for all of us.

But besides the negative, mountains of paper, bottles and bags also have benefits: they can act as raw materials for the manufacture of all kinds of goods needed in everyday life.

This means that garbage, waste and other results of the life activity of the population of our planet can be used to create your own business.

The main thing in this situation is to find and master the technology, as well as collect the garbage itself.

The last point may cause confusion: why collect it - there seems to be more than enough of this stuff in landfills. This is, of course, true, but the problem is that there is no technology with which it would be possible to make a product from waste of various natures.

Therefore, those who want to open a business in this area should know: garbage still needs to be found, collected, or even purchased and cleaned of foreign impurities. Moreover, often these actions constitute the main labor and monetary costs for organizing and operating a business.

But despite the difficulties that, strictly speaking, exist in any business, it is possible to open an enterprise that works on “garbage”, and there are many options for this.

Now we will talk about nine interesting ideas making money from garbage.

Things from plastic waste

An American craftsman came up with a technology for processing plastic and even posted the design of the production line on the Internet. Thanks to his invention and with the help of simple manipulations and imagination plastic cups, broken baby buckets and other trash can be transformed into cute household items. And there is always a demand for such goods. All you need to implement this business idea is a garage and “golden” hands that can easily assemble devices for crushing, melting and molding plastic.

Recycled clothing

Russian designers figured out where to use used plastic bottles - they decided to make fabric for sweaters out of it, and they succeeded. True, these transformations of plastic into textiles are taking place not on the territory of our country, but in the Middle Kingdom.

Sweatshirts made from recycled materials are universal and are absolutely no different from their counterparts made from ordinary fabric. But the philosophy and eco-message of the brand itself attract buyers not only from Russia, but also from other countries.

Recycling of used tires

Rubber is a universal product; it is used to produce many different goods, while the substance itself can be processed several times without losing its properties. And this fact allows you to organize your own rubber processing business.

Where to get the raw materials to start this business? For example, accepting or purchasing used car tires. Since they are often changed and can simply be thrown away near a tire shop, you will not have problems finding raw materials. The main thing is to decide what you will do with the crumb rubber - hand it over to manufacturers or make, for example, galoshes.

Craft paper production

The world is being taken over by craft things: drinks, food and... paper. It is her in lately It is fashionable to use the packaging of various goods, as well as the production of bags. At the same time, the main raw material for their production is waste paper.

Of course, the times when the collection of this paper waste was widespread are gone, so today you need to try to find the required amount of waste paper for your business. But all the difficulties are completely solvable, and if you like the idea of creating bags from kraft paper, then you should carefully read the business idea.

Ecowool

Currently on the market building materials There is an abundance of different options for insulating houses. One of them is ecowool. It is dispersed, so rodents cannot attack it, and also this material allows you to fill all voids and retains heat. Few people realize that the raw material for the production of this insulation is ordinary paper waste.

However, some homeowners are not at a loss and insulate their homes with simple waste paper. But such people are still a minority. And there are an order of magnitude more interested in ecowool.

Biohumus from food waste

Many people are familiar with bags of recycled soil, which are sold in all flower and garden departments. At the same time, few people know that this product can be obtained from simple food waste. And this can be done by anyone who acquires a special device that turns garbage into useful fertilizer.

A device called Zera will free you from the obligation to remove waste and also purchase soil for plants. But in Russia this device is not for sale, so you can be puzzled by this issue, purchase and sell fertilizer to everyone.

Beads from dirty air

Dutch designers have come up with a way not to worry about finding raw materials for making jewelry, as well as the production process itself. They designed a special tower that not only absorbs dirty air, but also processes it into various decorations.

The designers presented their invention on a foreign crowdfunding platform and have already sold it to many countries around the world.

Used building materials

Many representatives of the business community are worried about the widespread demolition of old buildings, since this deprives them of premises for business.

But meanwhile, only a small part of enterprising citizens understand that they can make good money from this. And we will not be talking about the legal representation of the rights of evicted fellow citizens, but about the sale of building materials extracted from demolished buildings.

Sorting waste as a business will help you make a good profit almost out of the blue. This will require certain equipment and you will have to master one of the technologies for its processing. This way, you will learn how to make money on what people usually throw in the trash.

And in this case, the success of an enterprise depends not so much on competitors or the level of demand for any goods, but on proper organization a generally useful and important matter. To do this, you just need to decide on the types of waste and the final product for production.

Relevance of the idea

If we briefly list the main advantages of this project, the following stand out:

Garbage is literally lying underfoot and raw materials are never transferred. It has been established that on average a person throws out about 250 kg of various solid waste per year. Of these, 60% are suitable for sorting and further processing. At the same time, for a business owner, such a product costs pennies.
This direction is environmental and helps to preserve nature. Caring for environment can be an additional incentive, and will also definitely cause approval from people.
There is practically no competition in this business. We can safely say that in almost all cities of our country the problem with the removal and storage of garbage is greatly aggravated. This should be done by city authorities, but usually they lack the funds or desire.
It follows from this next point– a novice entrepreneur in this direction is provided with all support from the state.
When installing even a small workshop with a narrow specialization, you can achieve enormous profits in a short period. The profitability of the idea is estimated at almost 80%.
Various types of recyclable materials are in demand at many factories, so there will be no problems with the sale of products at any stage of sorting and processing.

Of course, there are also disadvantages in such a case. These include the high cost of a waste sorting complex, the length and complexity of obtaining permits, as well as the need to mostly use manual labor.

But it should be clarified that the amount of capital investment and the entire process of organizing a business will differ depending on the type of waste chosen, the method of sorting it and further plans for processing. For example, you can only sell recyclable materials and get good money for it. But if you create a full-fledged complex with which you can produce finished goods from similar raw materials, then profits will increase significantly.

Where to start?

At the first stage, some difficulties will arise. And although the state supports entrepreneurs in this direction, the duration of registration and execution of various documents will require some effort and patience.

The Law “On Environmental Expertise” provides for the availability of licenses for each stage of action - collection, sorting, transportation, processing, etc. This will take some time, but after the examination you will receive a conclusion that is valid for the entire period of activity. They receive such a document from Rosprirodnadzor, having previously registered with the tax office as individual entrepreneur or legal entity.

When arranging a premises or territory for conducting activities, you must also obtain permits from the sanitary-epidemiological station, the Ministry of Emergency Situations, Rostechnadzor and Rospotrebnadzor. When purchasing equipment for processing or sorting recyclables, you must have certificates for each element of the automated line, as well as certain documents for vehicle.

When hiring personnel, they conclude employment contracts and become registered as an employer with the Pension Fund and the Social Insurance Fund. The entire process of collecting documents will require a long wait - up to several months. But there shouldn’t be any particular difficulties.

Types of garbage

Waste can be divided into the following main categories:

paper – waste paper;
rubber – mostly related to car tires;
plastic – various products made of polymers and other similar materials;
glass containers – both whole and broken;
wood waste - sawdust, etc.;
metals.

As an entrepreneur, you can choose what to do:

Only by sorting waste and selling it as recyclable materials for factories.
Partially process waste to obtain simple semi-finished products that other manufacturers will use for their own needs.
Or install a full cycle and start processing and manufacturing any products.

Also evaluate your financial capabilities - what equipment will be enough for the available funds - for several small processing shops at once various types waste or you can focus on only one direction.

What do you get from garbage? The most common options are:

Car tires processed into crumb rubber, which is subsequently used when laying roads, asphalt, etc.
Cullet is melted down and beautiful glass granules are obtained; they are used in the production of abrasive particles, coatings, ceramic products, etc.
Polymer materials are pressed into blocks.
Construction waste is very diverse; metal particles are extracted from it, recycled crushed stone and even brick can be reused.
After processing, wood waste becomes chipboards, which are subsequently actively used in furniture production.
Waste paper actually helps preserve the forest, since it is used to create a lot of different paper products - from packaging to toilet paper.

Technology and equipment

Please understand that much of the sorting work is done manually. The machine will not be able to separate some waste from others. But for further processing, pressing, melting and other processes they use special devices. They can be semi-automatic or automatic. The latter cost twice as much, but help save on wages due to fewer operators, and also significantly speed up production.

To understand where to choose from the entire available list of equipment, you must first decide on the type of waste you are going to work with and the product you will sell. Obviously, different installations are needed for recycling waste paper and plastic.

So, for rubber waste you will need:

Sidewall cutting machines.
Devices for separating material into strips.
Installations for squeezing the ring.
Chopping machines.
Rollers for obtaining crumbs.
Magnetic separator.
Belt conveyor.

Wood waste is processed by other devices:

granulators;
presses;
machines for cleaning and hydroprocessing, etc.

Where to get raw materials?

If you evaluate even at home or examine any average city resident’s bucket, then it contains about half of polymer and plastic materials, slightly less than direct waste from food products, and 10-20% waste paper, metal, rubber, textiles, etc.

To collect partially sorted garbage, you can install special bins near each house with marks where to throw away plastic bottles, glass, paper, etc. Western countries This sorting is carried out personally by each person, and the garbage is initially thrown into different containers. It makes it a lot easier further work with waste.

If you are focused on activities with a certain type of raw material, for example, glass containers, metal or tires, then you can organize the reception of such products in a separate room. The main thing is that it is within walking distance for those living in a residential area.

When working with building materials, you can agree on the removal of solid waste from construction companies or private home owners who are building their own homes on their own. When collecting car tires, you should establish contact with a tire shop and service station. By involving local authorities in this process, it is possible to achieve a constant supply of raw materials for sorting and processing.

Workshop setup

Garbage must be collected and transported somewhere to one place, where all the required stages of sorting and processing are then carried out with it. To do this, you will need to build or rent a fairly spacious room somewhere on the outskirts of the city or even outside it.

Total area with an established overproduction cycle, it should be at least 1200 sq. m. Of this, half is allocated for the waste sorting complex, 300-400 sq. m. - for raw material processing devices and at least 200 sq. m. for a warehouse where finished products are stored.

Be sure to allocate some space for utility rooms and staff, a bathroom, etc. If there is also an administrative building here, it will be equipped separately and all office furniture and equipment will be installed.

Staff

To perform manual sorting work, 20-40 low-skilled workers will be required. Their exact quantity will depend on the volume of extracted raw materials and the required processing speed. Operators or adjusters are also needed to monitor the activities of processing machines.

To provide other functions, a cleaner, accountant, driver and sales manager are hired. Some types of activities can be partially carried out by the owner himself or some of the work can be outsourced. This will save costs on wages and social contributions.

Sales of recyclable materials and finished goods

Depending on what exactly the final result of the sorting shop or processing plant will be, the distribution channels for the products will also differ. Thus, any recyclable materials and semi-finished products will be gladly purchased by the corresponding factories that use them in production. If we talk about finished goods, then they can be sold directly to wholesale or retail outlets.

But here it is necessary to take into account the specifics of the activity. Thus, when working with cullet and producing granules or abrasives, you can cooperate with factories for the production of glass, ceramic and other products. If you recycle paper and create packaging, then they are immediately sold to retail chains that require a similar product. When processing plant waste, the resulting fertilizers are sold to agricultural land, etc.

Financial part

Before engaging in such activities, you need to calculate all the costs and draw up a competent business plan. The amount spent at the start will significantly depend on the chosen direction and the completeness of the processing complex. So, if you count on a small workshop for processing one type of waste, then the initial investment will be limited to 100-300 thousand dollars.

When creating a full-fledged plant where all types of waste are sorted and processed in some way, you can spend several million.

The profitability of such a project is quite high and ranges from 40-80%. If you receive raw materials almost free of charge, then any output product is estimated at 10-40 thousand rubles per ton.

By average standards, the monthly income of such an enterprise will be at least 150,000, or even more. It all depends on the type of production and the type of raw materials. Therefore, opening a waste sorting business turns out to be not only useful for society, but also a profitable project for the owner himself.

Video: how is waste sorted and recycled in Germany?