Would it be profitable to set up a business at the local landfill site, to recycle the rubbish?

Question

I know there are some things that can't be recycled, and there are issues with methane gas, which could be a health hazard, but....

Answer 1

I think there are some such businesses, but not at the land fill. I saw a recent episode of This Old House on PBS and they visited a small company that separates recyclable material out of construction debris, sending the non-recyclable stuff to the land fill and recycling the rest. And best of all, it costs the contractor less to send his waste to that company than it does to send it to the land fill. A win-win situation.

My brother used to work at a small electricity generating plant that sat on top of a full and closed land fill. It collected methane gas from a network of pipes in the ground above the old land fill and burned it in a gas turbine to generate electricity.

Answer 2

A lot of the council landfill sites are run by private firms.  

They already have worked out that money can be made from recycling.

Next time you go to your local amenity site, you will notice there are various different bins where you can put your rubbish, depending on what it is.

Answer 3

there may be health risks but if you go about it the right way you could do well out of it, I know a couple who started out in their garden shed extracting silver from x-rays and other photographic stuff and now have a big business in recycling metals.

Answer 4

Some things can be recycled, but the recapture of the investment at this time is too long and the profit potential is too low to make it a really viable business.  Besides the smell next to a landfill is awful and the constant noise and the potential for disease and pathogens and vermine is the pits!

Answer 5

Be even more profitable to take over the local landfill site and actually manage the waste as it comes in.

Of course this is already being done in various locations.

Also depends on where in the world you live, your local pay scales, how much money you have to invest, what subsidies/tax breaks you can secure, how much people are prepared to pay to dump their rubbish in your landfill and what safety rules are in place.

Urban waste from domestic sources is rich in all sorts of materials. Metals, paper fibres, compostables, burnables, glass, plastics, rubble, digestables  as animal feed stock, or for bio digestion to produce methane, fuel and high quality fertilizer. And none ot that includes actual items which still have an intrinsic value for direct reuse. Or ones that can be rejuvenated.

You may be able to convince the local council/people to presort stuff for you into separate bins, or you can do it with various sorting machines.

You can usually charge a dumping fee as land fills are in short supply. Collect an environmental tax break or subsidy or other funding and start making your fortune.

Remember one person's rubbish is another's resource. You wouldn't be the first multi millionaire whose fortune was made from scrap and rubbish.

Answer 6

And you would need protective clothing e.t.c, but I cant see why there shouldnt be some profit in it,seems like a good idea.Get advice on the hazzards though from a proffesional .

Answer 7

why not do it at the local tip if enough people did this land fill would reduce greatley ,weather the councils would agree is another matter ,but if enough people kicked up a fuss i dont see how they could stop you ,as for the landfill sights i think it dangerous unless you could get in there before its dumped.