Small Time Blog

Smalltime's Solution for Maximum Recycling

by Bradley Voight on 09/03/12

Implementing large scale recycling programs turns out not to be so easy according to Waste Management's Bill Caesar in an article found here:

http://thinkinggreen.wm.com/web/wmblog/home/-/blogs/bill-caesar-don%E2%80%99t-let-waste-go-to-waste .

After much careful thought on the issue I have come to this conclusion: transportation costs make recycling unprofitable. Trash companies had the ultimate business model until the green movement showed up to ruin it. Think about it, you drive out and pick up the garbage and drive back and bury it in the ground. That is one round trip of fuel per truck per pickup. Now you have a second dumpster for cardboard. There is a second truck and a second round trip of fuel and handling cost for something you used to just bury.

I found the answer to this problem by looking at two other industries, pallets and scrap metal. Pallet pickers do all the legwork and absorb all the fuel cost to get the pallets back to a central buying location. Likewise with aluminum can pickers. The incentive is there for individuals to go out do all the dirty work and pay all the inbound transportation cost. Here is how we get at the millions of pounds of plastic and glass that are left behind in this process.

Have a national return for deposit law on glass and plastic bottles
Municipalities would begin issuing scavenger permits at say $100 per year (added revenue for strapped cities and towns)
Permits holders assume their own risks by engaging in scavenging and cannot sue property owners for injuries or other losses while scavenging.
The scavengers absorb all inbound costs.
Large companies, like Waste Management simply build the buying centers and buy from the public.

Remember that recyclable materials are feed stock for industry just like raw materials are. If you introduce more recyclables into the marketplace, then you reduce the raw material usage. In the case of plastics there are enormous amounts going into the landfills and plastic is so easily melted down and reused it is a travesty in my view.

Since no one reads anymore, I will post a video with this same plan soon so stay tuned.

Comments (0)

It's 11 o'clock. Do You Know Where Your Old Hard Drive is?

by Bradley Voight on 08/28/12

I posted a video called E-waste hell a while back. If you really don't care where all your toxic e-waste ends up consider this; all the information on old hard drives is easily recoverable as you will see if you watch E-waste hell. That means large corporations who update computer systems might just be pitching the old systems without purging the information contained within them. It sure is something to think about when you are about to throw a computer in the trash.

Comments (0)

Some Cities, Towns, and States Could be in Trouble

by Bradley Voight on 08/21/12

One of the worlds most prominent investors might know something that we don't.

http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/buffett-exit-muni-bonds-signals-trouble-ahead-local-165817581.html I said before in a past post that I believe there could be a wave of defaults on cities, towns, and possibly even states. Stay tuned!

Comments (0)

Romney V.P. Pick Creates Middle Class-Busting Super Duo

by Bradley Voight on 08/13/12

Mitt Romney's choice of Paul Ryan shows that the republicans mean business. Let's face it; these guys represent the 1% and that 1% happen to foot nearly half the bill for this country. They look out at everybody on public assistance and see freeloaders using their money and if they are elected, they will try to stop the freeloading. I contend that living off the government kills your will to improve your financial standing, but at the same time I do not see how one individual is entitled to such vast wealth at the expense of the many people it takes to create wealth for individuals, or companies for that matter.

As I have said before, I see things for how they are not how I wish they were. Romney and Ryan are rich. They think that folks like themselves are paying for all sorts of government programs out of their pockets and they will try to bust them down. So if you have no pension and you rely on public assistance and these guys get elected, you are going to be hurting for certain.

That's where we come in. We are here to help those of you out there who want to learn to be resourceful. I realize we haven't reached Mad Max stages...yet but America is equalizing with the rest of the world and that means our standard of living is headed south while Brazil, Russia, India, and China, are headed north.

Comments (0)

Smalltime on the Radio

by Bradley Voight on 07/30/12

I will be appearing on the Kappo and the Rev show on Sianetradio.com on 8/6/12 @9pm CST (10pm Indianapolis time). I will be discussing the state of the world economy and how it affects average Americans like myself and many others who are trying to save for retirement on a shoestring budget. Although I do believe times could get rougher, I think there are many silver linings out there. The Smalltime philosophy is to be totally self sufficient and to me that means learning to find ways to build your own safety nets. There are many awesome new technology companies out there to invest in and opening an online brokerage account is as easy as opening a checking account; most require only $500 to start.

I bet that a person could pick up $500 worth of scrap inside of 3 months and start an online brokerage account. Who knows, you could pick a winner and multiply your money!

Comments (0)