Turning Trash Into Treasure: Starting a Recycled Products Business
by Carrie Hinkel on December 20th, 2007
With some creativity and a heap of old “junk”, you could be well on your way to making millions. It’s true, new companies are continually popping up and offering products made from materials that were once deemed for the landfill. Not only is it trendy to be “green”, but the best part about starting a recycled business is that most (or all) of the materials are free!
Today’s recycling geniuses at work:
1. MotherBoardGifts.com – They turn old motherboards into sleek products like business card holders, clocks, coasters and picture frames. For engineers and computer geeks, it’s the ultimate gift!
2. VyAndElle.com – These business owners did some serious creative thinking to come up with this idea. They take used billboards and recycle them into fashionable handbags and backpacks. And, yes, they look really cool too!
3. Vinylux.net – Who wants LP records anymore? Well, this company does! They fashion artistic bowls, jewelry, clocks and coasters out of them.
And that’s just a few ideas; there are literally hundreds (or perhaps thousands) of other entrepreneurs making lots of unique gifts out of a variety of used products. There’s furniture made out of seatbelts, bottle cap belts, license plate purses, glass bottle lights…the list goes on and on.
So, how can you start your own recycled products business?
There’s no doubt that creativity is key when dealing with recycled products, not only in thinking of the actual recycled products you want to make, but also in finding a way to get the materials before they get to the landfill!
For instance, let’s take used car and truck tires. Every year millions of tires wind up in landfills – taking up an enormous amount of space and just going to waste. But now, companies are beginning to realize that the rubber can be recycled and used again. When chopped up, they make a great springy mulch for playgrounds. Even homeowners are starting to realize that this recycled mulch makes sense for around the house too!
And what about all those wooden pallets? Those usually never get used again…they’re big and they just get hauled off to the dump. Could they be recycled into the “next big thing”? What about used holiday cards? Or old VCRs? Car radios? The list is literally endless because trash never ends.
The key is thinking of “trash” that you can easily get a hold of. A business idea of using worn Vera Wang shoes probably wouldn’t get you very far. But, taking the orange rind from an orange juice manufacturer might. Big companies throw out tons of trash each and every day, and some of it could very well be used to make other products – your products!
So start brainstorming, you could be just a few ideas away from your very own “trash to treasure” success story. Once you think you have a great idea be sure to check for it on Google – you want to be sure that there aren’t five other companies already doing the exact same thing! But if there are, don’t worry, there’s still a thousand other recycled product ideas waiting to be brought to life!