To find plastic buyers you will need access to the internet. You could also find plastic buyers by visiting your local library. They have reference books there that list major businesses by their industry like metal and plastic buyers.
Since you’re already online I’ll talk about how to find plastic buyers websites.
It’s pretty obvious that there are people out there already recycling scrap plastic.
Their also making some good money doing it because plastic products are produced everyday. It costs manufacturers a lot of money to make the plastic that covers a cd or that is formed into a spray bottle.
I certainly have thrown out tons of scrap plastic and I’m sure you have too. I never even knew that companies buy plastic scrap. I found out accidentally one day while researching something completely different.
They buy plastic scrap to save on manufacturing cost. It also enables them to use less of our natural resources.
Plastic Buyers – grab a pen and a piece of paper to write on. Write down the following list of words. These words are what you need to search for online to find scrap plastic buyers in your area.
LDPE
PET
Poly Vinyl Chloride
Polystyrene
Poly Propylene
Polyethylene
Polycarbonate
For Example: Lets say you had a load of Polystyrene (Styrofoam) that you wanted to sell. When you do your search online type in – Polystyrene Buyers or Polystyrene Scrap Buyers.
Be sure to reference the 2nd part of this article again if you forgot the names and recycling numbers for the scrap plastic.
When you contact scrap plastic buyers they will want to know what kinds of plastic you have. Some will want you to send them a picture of your scrap plastic to verify your load. Be very courteous and respectful after all you want to do business with these buyers.
Ask questions, not just about how much they pay for scrap plastic. Ask them about their guidelines as well as things like, what plastics are most sought after. Don’t stop after a couple of calls.
Try and make contact with at least 10 plastic scrap buyers to give yourself multiple outlets where you can sell your plastic scrap.
Why do you think certain states give you 5 or 10cents for bottle returns? It’s certainly not because it’s the neighborly thing to do. They compact the plastic scrap into big squares and then they sell it to plastic scrap buyers.
A friend of mine that started selling scrap plastic told me that when he reads the recycling symbol and the little saying — Please Recycle — that it really says to him, please come and get your money.
Tip: Just 1 empty 16oz water bottle is equal to nearly 1 pound of scrap plastic. I pay the city for their water services but I drink a lot of bottled water. I typically buy four 24 packs of water bottles a month. Many people buy much more than that but I just want to give you an example of how easily you can accumulate a lot of plastic to scrap.
On average, nearly every trash can that you see on the curb has at least 10 water bottles and a few plastic spice bottles in it. In fact, a little more than 50% of the trash inside of garbage cans is scrap plastic.