Selling Cardboard Bales
A baler cuts your waste removal costs and provides a return on your investment in the form of revenue. Recycled materials like cardboard can be sold to end users for profit.
So what are the best practices for selling your cardboard?
Bale Sizes & Purchase Amounts
If you are planning on selling your cardboard to a paper mill be aware they generally don’t purchase small bales. The industry standard is a 60″ x 30″ x 48″ bale.
60″x30″x48″ bale
Ideally you should purchase a baler that produces a bale that weighs more than 1000 lbs. You can typically find out what bale sizes baler models produce on their company product pages or in their manuals.
Denser bales mean more dollars per bale and less work per bale moving and tying them. When purchasing a baler, be aware a cheaper baler model may not produce bales of the correct weight and size for reselling, so if resale is your goal choose your model carefully.
CARDBOARD = $$
Corrugated cardboard (OCC) can sell for $80 per ton (40$ per 1000lbs) or up to $150 ($100 per 1000 lbs).
Profit Factors
The going rate of cardboard can vary considerably, and is influenced by a number of factors. Supply and demand constantly influence the current purchase price.
Generally cardboard is purchased in 53’ truckloads and a full truck sells at a premium.
Paper mills typically purchase cardboard from paper recycling companies as they can supply full truckloads reliably as well as offer decontamination and transport functions.
Selling your bales through a paper recycling company will give you a way to sell your carboard, but it means that they take a piece of the margin to cover their costs.
A little research can help you determine what you kind of profit you could make before making final decisions.
