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I'd like to set up boxes (with permission) outside grocery stores, in college campuses, at office buildings or wherever makes sense and collect used ink and toner cartridges. The box itself will look very professional but will have some schpeal about "helping the environment by recycling." I'll resell these printer cartridges to companies that refurb them and get money or refurb the ones that I'm knowledgeable on myself. If I never state that I'm a non-profit organization, but people are likely to assume it, does that mean I'm a fraud or just a capitalist? Should I state that it's for profit for legal reasons or does that matter? In reality it will be recycling, I'll just be making money off of it.

I was also considering offering free pickup for offices and the like. Does anyone have any suggestions as to other ways I could improve this idea? I've had success with it on a small scale so far by taking the empties from factory returns and warranty exchanged that are $100 by the pallet or less so I believe it could work on a slightly bigger scale as well.

Why would that be illegal?

Frazzled wrote:Why would that be illegal?

I think the legal question has more to do with the location than the concept. You would need permission of the college and/or Grocery store to sell on their property.

Ahtman wrote:

Frazzled wrote:Why would that be illegal?

I think the legal question has more to do with the location than the concept. You would need permission of the college and/or Grocery store to sell on their property.

True dat.

I was worried more about some random person seeing it, assuming it was a charitable cause then finding out otherwise and making a stink. I didn't know if "looking like" a non-profit could be considered fraudulent or if I'm just being paranoid.

Edit: To clarify, mainly because it's a place where you leave stuff that's for a "good cause" (generic "save the earth" appeal) .

As long as you're not putting out "recycle for charity" then I'm not seeing the issue.

I concur.

The only problem I can really see is if the refurbished cartridges are being rebranded and resold then the original manufacturer could claim injury. But since you are really just delivering these that's not your problem.

I know some offices have contracts with recycling companies. I worked for a horrible 1984esque gong show company, let's call it Mron Iountain, which did a lot of recycling stuff for offices.

Of course, you could always set up a charity, say the profits go to charity, pay yourself a salary from the proceeds, and then donate X % to a real charity, like world vision or something. (I think Canada is a charity now...)

sounds genius to me, man.

The thing is, if the spots with the charities are like the spots we have here, then the shopping centres let the charities use them because they're charities. I'd wouldn't assume you could just set them up there and no-one would complain.

Go and speak to the owners of the places where you want to set them up. Don't pretend you're not making a profit, but sell them on the benefits of getting these cartridges recycled. If necessary maybe offer to make a donation per cartridge?

Yeah, we have those in Australia, but they are run by environmental charities. That said, offering a free cartridge disposal service should be absolutely fine, as long as you have permission to place the collection boxes.

As long as it is clear what services you are providing there shouldn't be an issue.

In the UK lots of private companies have green waste recycling schemes and are not charitable concerns.

As always though, solicit professional advice.

I wouldent say you would be doing anything worse than any other entrepreneur looking for a quick fix, so go ahead.

Of course, you could always set up a charity, say the profits go to charity, pay yourself a salary from the proceeds, and then donate X % to a real charity, like world vision or something.

Not to sure on this once you start saying the profits will go to charity when they actually won't I think you've just pretty much became a liar.

Go for it mate, and good luck to you.

As long as you have the permission of the people who own the land where the bins are situated then location isn't an issue

You may want to consider a free collection service from offices, schools, supermarkets and other businesses

With regards to charities as long as you dont claim to be one then I cant see a problem, although what you may want to do is donate a small percentage of your profits to an environmantal charity (nothing militant, just a bunch of tree planters will do)

One thing worth bearing in mind is to make sure you can provide accurate information, to anyone who is using your service or has one of your bins, about the whole process as people will worry that you will just dump the cartridges and they will get lumbered with a fine.

Something that squilverine brings up is a very good point, if you expand too quick and your turn around cannot keep up with your acclumation then, at least in the US, this could be seen as dumping.

Nothing your'd be doing is illegal from the information you provided. Remember though that people are lazy and will rather throw something out or dump it in the rest of the trash at their office then bag it up and take it to a grocery store. It may be worth looking into some kind of system where they apply for a pre-paid shipping label and send it to you at your expense. This would increase supply but it may cut into your margin more then you would like, YMMV it's just an idea.

The companies I know of that are successful in this diversify beyond printer ink and toner cartridges but if you insist on staying with those and keeping it simple then having disposal contracts with companies and schools is the way to go. If you are doing ink cartridges as well it might be worth the effort to look into refurbishing expired cartridges as well and making it clear weither or not you take them.

Wow, last post is full of win. I'd love to have more than I could handle I was just focusing on toner/ink since I know it really well. The pre-paid envelopes are an amazing idea.

How much are you planning on making off of this? The only way it sounds profitable, is if you don't store the cartridges anywhere besides within the bins. On a larger scale it may be different but I assume you will be using a pick-up truck of some kind.

A few times I collected cans with some friends. We found good spots that would pay out around 10-20$ per location and ended up making 30-100$ per person each day. It ended up being something that was not particularly profitable in the long run, especially for the person with the truck. Gas money adds up really fast, you should try to figure out your costs before diving headfirst into all of this, not that I assume you haven't put some thought into it.

Having a bunch of information regarding your business is a great idea. Your not going to be able to be all that choosy about the locations you work with, so you need to be prepared to sell your idea. I am not entirely sure how you would offset the costs of mail delivery, it seems really expensive to go about it that way. Unfeasibly expensive, really. If a pallet is 100$ that puts the cost of each cartridge within pennies each.

Another thing you might think about is how the recycling place will actually pay you. 'Pallet' usually means a cubic yard but they may say that then pay you by weight, which would make an awful lot more sense. With various types of cartridge sizes it would be odd if the recycling place did work by volume, simply because it would be so hard to tell what you are actually giving them.

Good luck though.

Call a lawyer?

I'm not taking them to somewhere that melts plastic, I'm selling them to companies that refurbish them or refurbishing them myself and reselling. 50 cents is the extreme cheap side and some tiny ink cartridges, especially older ones, go for 10 to 12 bucks. Toner is a lot better than that. ones I refurbish will go for 20 to 30 bucks on eBay depending. My original plan for gas was to set up a "run" if you will, maybe once a week, where I take one trip to hit all the locations. The mail order thing could work too, but I might clarify toner only or something to make sure that works out. Regardless, I'm trying to process through all the foreseeable hiccups before I invest time in it.

You'd be better-off going to office buildings and pitching companies to dispose of their used toner cartridges. The office building I work at throws loads away. If you pitched it that you'd do it for free they'd snap your hand off, I reckon.

On the supply pick up side of this I see a lot of simularities with latch-key operations (I think that's what they are called) you'll want to look at companies that refill vending machines and how they do their runs, fuel is a big concern here. The only differance is that where they are dropping off their goods you are picking up your supply.

As far as your origional question though the legality of it sounds fine. Make sure your company logo doesn't look anything like any NFPO (Not For Profit Organization), and I can't see how any one could get confused. Ultimatly malfred is right, but anyone who has delt with any lawer before knows that if you don't go in with your i's dotted and your t's crossed they'll take your shirt in fees as they walk through all of this stuff with you.