How Cardboard Balers Can Generate Revenue for Your Business
For many businesses, cardboard is a common form of waste and is a component that makes up practically all packaging waste. For companies utilising on-site manufacturing, it may be the first waste type that begins to build up during the average working day.
So what do you do with all that waste cardboard? Simply throw it away? There’s a better option – bale it.
- Why Bale Cardboard?
- Can Cardboard Balers Generate Revenue?
- What Is the Price of Recycled Cardboard?
- Baling Cardboard Best Practices
Why Bale Cardboard?
Cardboard balers are useful machines for the modern business that generates cardboard waste. From vertical balers to fully automatic balers, these machines have the capability of a maximum throughput.
They create stable, high-density bales that are easy to transport and store. This reduces the volume of your cardboard waste and the risk of the waste presenting a trip hazard.
Vertical balers are the perfect machines for smaller businesses with little to medium amounts of cardboard waste generation, fitting snugly into manufacturing warehouses and distribution centres.
In this video, we demonstrate how easy it is to operate the X25 Vertical Baler:
If your business creates large amounts of cardboard waste, a machine such as the HPK 1100/50 Fully Automatic Baler solves that problem quickly and effectively, producing heavy-duty bales for maximum payload.
So, onto the key question – how can cardboard balers generate revenue for your business?
Can Cardboard Balers Generate Revenue?
Now, revenue generation will always be specific to the business where the baler is used. A business with a larger output of cardboard waste may see a higher revenue because of the regular use of the machine. But positive revenue generation or lower operational costs will always be present in companies utilising waste management machinery to improve their overall waste management protocols.
For example, we at Greenbank installed an HPK 50 at a site in Newark. At the time, the price of a ton of baled cardboard was anywhere from £100 to £122.
That specific machine created around 32,000 bales in four years, the equivalent of 15,000 tons of cardboard. Even at £100 per ton, that’s a significant amount of generated revenue.
The value of recycled cardboard rises and falls monthly. For example, in June, it was anywhere from £35 to £50. So what’s the price like now?
What Is the Price of Recycled Cardboard?
At the time of writing, cardboard prices are soaring. Because of COVID-19 and the increase in eCommerce sales, the demand for cardboard in shipping has increased, leading to a sharp rise in the material price.
According to Zest Recycle, the price of cardboard is currently ranging from £100 to £118 per ton. If your business produces a lot of this in-demand material and you don’t utilise a baler to create easily-sold bales, you could be missing out on a new source of revenue generation.
Baling Cardboard Best Practices
You can only bale cardboard when all contaminants have been removed, such as food residue or any attached polystyrene packaging.
Different grades of cardboard can be baled together as long as there are no contaminants on any piece.
Remember not to bale cardboard alongside any other packaging material, such as paper or polythene, as this means businesses looking to buy recycled cardboard are less likely to choose your bales. Separating waste types is critical or there’s the chance of producing ‘contaminated bales’.
Position your baler in an easily accessible space to cater to foot traffic and pallet trucks, so it’s easy to transport the waste cardboard to the baler and remove the finished bale.
Vertical Balers for Your Business
It’s obvious many businesses new to cardboard recycling won’t be interested in a huge machine that takes up a lot of floor space. Vertical balers are the perfect starting point for businesses looking to:
- Reduce operational costs
- Improve site hygiene and safety
- Create new revenue streams
- Gain visibility over waste production
- Reduce environmental impact
In fact, now is the right time to invest in waste management machinery. To provide you with more information on how you can bale cardboard, check out our B20 cardboard baler today.
