How to Start Plastic recycling business

Overview

There’s something that’s going to change for you once you’re done reading this article, so bear with us.

Now, Did you know an average person like you and me consumes 11 kgs of plastic per year, our country, India consumes 25,940  tonnes of plastic and the world on total consumes 300 million tonnes of plastic every year, with consistency.

In facts it’s only 9% of the plastic that’s been recycled, 12% being burned and 79% ending up in landfills. Moreover there are 5 trillion pieces of plastic in our ocean, enough to circle over earth 400 times.

A company as big as Coca-Cola, the plastic bottles of which brings “happiness” apparently, in every minute approximately a million bottles are bought and 91% of them are not even recycled and an estimated 455 million cannot be recycled.

Guessing by now you know that plastic is non-biodegradable I.e it cannot be fed on by the organisms so if more plastic is dumped, it’s going to enter the food chain, the animals and plants we eat for dinner and lunch.

And you’ll probably be vacationing in Goa by the side of a plastic view rather than a sandy beach

Now you realise the need for recycling these plastic bottles? Did this encourage you to think twice before you buy a coke? That’s one change, isn’t it?

Now another, do you know you can do your bit and even make business out of this plastic recycling ? Change the way you do business now.

Also read :

• Expert Advice on Plastic Recycling
• Best Manufacturing Business Ideas

Market potential and uses

Plastic recycling is the process of recovering the scrap and plastic waste and reprocessing it into a useful product.

The market potential for this business is vast mainly because of the higher reason to save this earth against global warming and the practices of small and big companies to be free from accusations of polluting this earth through the use of plastic they make and waste for producing their own products

As a result there’s a need among big companies like Adidas, Coca-Cola m, Unilever, PepsiCo etc to rather make use of the recycled plastic.

The recycled plastic undergoes a process as follows

• Selection of plastic
• Sorting
• Shredding
• Cleaning
• Melting
• Pellet making

These below are the sectors who dump the plastic the most and require the recycled ones produced by your company to do their bit

Now the Uses of plastic can be determined on the basis of the types of recycled plastics which are as follows

Polyethylene terephthalate: This type of recycled plastic is used in manufacture of water, soft drinks, peanut butter and salad dressing bottles

High density polyethylene: This type of recycled plastic is used to manufacture water, juice and milk bottles and used as trash bags for retail, business and households

Polyvinyl chloride: This type of recycled plastic is used for manufacturing PVC pipes, cling films etc

On the basis of the types of plastic recycled into

• Bottles
• Films
• Fibre
• Foam
• Pipes
• Wire and cable

Licenses required

Licenses required to set up this business are

• NOC by state pollution control board
• Factory license
• MSME registration
• GST registration
• FSSAI certificate

Investment required

The investment required to set up this business

Profits made

The profits made from setting up a plastic recycling business is as variable as ₹60000 per ton, per month

Target consumers

The target consumers for your recycled plastic business would be

Water bottle manufacturers: The mostly immensely dumped plastic, water bottles, are they major consumers for recycled plastic processed by you that is polyethylene terephthalate because of its strength, toughness and clarity supply recycled plastic

Beverage industry : These require the recycled plastic bottles to curb the plastic waste and serve the customers juices, soft drinks, hard drinks etc  in a recycled plastic bottles

Packaging industry: The industry dealing in plastic wraps, plastic carry bags, plastic boxes etc also require the recycled plastic

Bottle manufactures: The bottle manufactures of condiments, salad dressings, dips, sauces etc require recycled plastic bottles too

Retail shops and supermarkets: These require recycled plastic in the form of trash bags, dumpsters etc to avoid use of harmful plastics and go green

Construction firms: These require recycled plastic in order to construct ceilings, windows made of recycled plastics

Government: The molten form of recycled plastic can also be used to construct highway roads. 60 kg of it can be used to make a 500 metre road that is 8 metre long

Pipe manufactures: The PVC pipes also require recycled plastic for its production

Area required

The area required to set up a plastic recycling plant is 200 sqft- 500 sqft

Raw materials required

The raw materials required to recycle plastic are

• Mixed plastic ( HDPE, LDPE, PE, PP, NYLON, TEFLON) etc
• Water
• Sanitisers
• Containers
• Tools

Machinery required

The machinery required to set up this business is

• Plastic sorting machine
• Plastic shredding machine
• Plastic cleaning and sanitising machine
• Plastic melting machine
• Dyer
• Cooler
• Pellet making machine

Manpower required

The manpower required to set up this plastic recycling busines is

• 1-technician
• 2-skilled workers
• 4-unskilled workers

Moreover ample training to these workers in terms of the following must also be provided with

• Machinery usage
• Equipment handling
• Safety and precautions

Business model and growth

The business model of a plastic recycling business can be defined using these four variants

Value proposition: The value which this business is likely to priced to you use

• Easily available raw materials and in large amounts, literally
• Big and many target customers

Target consumers: The target consumers for this business are as follows:

• Retail and supermarkets stores
• Water bottle manufactures
• Beverage industry
• Construction industry
• Packaging industry
• Pipe manufacturers

Competitor review: The few key competitors of this noble busines are as follows

• Go green envirotek
• Skrapnet
• DB L Ventures pvt ltd
• Kyra

Marketing strategy: The marketing strategy that can be implemented by your unit is as follows

Advertising: Through social media by sweating up pages, contests etc

Print media: through articles, blogs, claims justifying your recycling processes etc

Growth

The plastic recycling business has witnessed and has the potential for the following growth prospects

• The plastic recycling market was valued at $41.73 billion in 2018 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 6.6%
• This huskies is also opening doors for many other applications like applications of recycled plastic in automotive, textiles, personal care and electronics

Profits margin

This business is likely to yield a profit margin of 20%-60%

Suggestions

While you toss away your entire household plastic collection for household we have narrowed down some reasons to why you should take up this business opportunity

• Firstly, the raw material available for business is huge and the investment is minimal which are likely to give you massive sales
• Secondly, consumers are also shifting from consumption of plastic and searching for the recycled ones as it substitute so larger demand
• Lastly, many big companies are making efforts to go green and your plastic recycling process could help them achieve it. So a high  foreign and domestic demand