How Much Does A Plastic Recycling Business Owner Make? $144M Model
A plastic recycling business owner can make money only after throughput, resin pricing, feedstock cost, labor, energy, fixed overhead, debt service, and reserves are covered Using the researched assumptions, the first year model produces $294M in revenue and about $1435M in operating profit before debt, taxes, reserves, and owner distributions By the mature year, revenue reaches $7169M and operating profit reaches about $3949M before those same exclusions That is owner-income capacity, not guaranteed take-home pay
Owner income$12.5MNet margin42.7%Revenue for target pay$29.4MBusiness difficultyHard
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Estimate owner take-home and the target-pay gap from revenue, margin, costs, reserves, and target pay.
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Planning note: Research-based planning estimate only. It is not guaranteed salary, tax advice, or owner distribution advice.
Want to see owner income in the Plastic Recycling model?
Is plastic recycling profitable after contamination and operating costs?
Plastic Recycling can be profitable if feedstock is clean, yield stays high, and labor, utilities, uptime, and resale price stay under control; see How Much Does It Cost To Launch Your Plastic Recycling Business? for the setup math. First-year product gross margins are about 600% for rPET, 588% for rHDPE, 590% for rPP, 596% for recycled LDPE, and 420% for mixed plastic lumber. A 1% revenue loss equals about $294k in first-year sales before cost offsets, so contamination can wipe out owner cash fast.
Margin drivers
Clean feedstock protects yield
High uptime protects output
Lower labor lifts cash
Resale price sets margin
Cash risks
Contamination raises sorting labor
Rejects cut saleable output
Downtime slows monthly throughput
Small price drops hit hard
How much revenue does a plastic recycling business need?
For Plastic Recycling, revenue has to pay for variable COGS, commissions, logistics, fixed overhead, payroll, debt service, reserves, and owner pay, so sales are not the same as cash in your pocket. Here’s the quick math: first-year contribution after unit COGS and variable selling costs is about 53.8%, and break-even revenue before owner pay, debt, and reserves is about $275M. Each $100k of target owner pay needs about $186k of added revenue, so higher sales do not automatically mean higher take-home cash.
Revenue must cover costs
Variable COGS comes first
Then commissions and logistics
Then fixed overhead and payroll
Then debt service and reserves
What the math says
53.8% contribution margin
$275M break-even revenue
$100k owner pay needs $186k revenue
Revenue is not take-home cash
How much can a plastic recycling business owner make?
A Plastic Recycling owner can have $1.435M to $3.949M of annual owner-income capacity in the modeled cases, but that is not a guaranteed salary; see What Is The Most Critical Measure Of Success For Plastic Recycling Facility? for the KPI that drives this. That cash must cover owner salary, distributions, debt, taxes, reserves, and reinvestment.
Owner income range
Lean case: $2.94M revenue
Gross margin: 59.3%
Operating profit: $1.435M
Year 3 profit: $2.440M
What controls payout
Base revenue: $4.677M
Mature revenue: $7.169M
Mature profit: $3.949M
Depends on uptime, contracts, working capital
Want to see what drives owner income?
1
Throughput
28K-68.5K
Moving from 28,000 first-year units to 68,500 mature-year units spreads fixed costs and lifts owner cash flow.
2
Feedstock Cost
$25-$300
Cheaper, cleaner feedstock keeps wash, transport, and labor cost from eating margin.
3
Sale Price
$100-$1,280
Higher prices on recycled resin flow straight into revenue because the plant already made the output.
4
Yield Rate
$294K/1%
Every 1% gain in sellable output adds about $294K to first-year revenue, so scrap control matters.
5
Labor & Energy
$25-$150
Direct labor and energy sit on every unit, so small process gains protect owner pay.
6
Fixed Load
$54K/mo
Rent, utilities, insurance, R&D, compliance, admin, and software create the monthly floor you must cover first.
Plastic Recycling Core Six Income Drivers
Throughput And Capacity Utilization
Usable Throughput
Usable throughput is the share of incoming plastic waste that turns into sellable resin or flakes. Here, output rises from 28,000 model units in year one to 68,500 in the mature year, or about 2,333 to 5,708 units per month. That spread matters because more sellable output spreads rent, insurance, payroll, and base utilities across more units, so owner income can rise if buyers can absorb the volume.
The key is to separate incoming waste from sellable output. Lost uptime hurts twice: it cuts revenue and keeps fixed overhead in place. One clean line: more uptime only helps if quality and demand hold.
Track Sellable Output, Not Just Feedstock
Measure runtime, yield, reject rate, and sell-through each month. A simple check is sellable units divided by scheduled capacity; that shows real capacity utilization, not just machine hours. If buyers cannot take the output, inventory builds and cash stays tied up, so the owner still carries fixed costs without the income lift.
Track incoming pounds by waste type.
Track sellable output by resin grade.
Track downtime by machine and cause.
Track buyer take-up before adding shifts.
Better uptime pays only when output stays saleable, so the cleanest gain comes from higher yield, less downtime, and demand matched to the monthly run rate.
1
Feedstock Cost And Contamination
Feedstock Cost And Contamination
Feedstock quality sets gross margin before the owner sees cash. In this model, raw material assumptions are $300 per rPET unit, $250 per rHDPE unit, $280 per rPP unit, $220 per recycled LDPE unit, and $25 per mixed plastic lumber input, with transport at 0.5% to 0.8% of revenue.
Cleaner scrap can cost more, but it often cuts sorting and yield loss. Contaminated waste may look cheaper upfront, but it can raise labor, disposal, downtime, and reject rates, which squeezes gross profit and the cash available for owner pay.
Measure Contamination Before You Buy Volume
Track feedstock type mix, contamination rate, inbound freight as a percent of revenue, and reject or rework rate by supplier load. Here’s the quick math: if a lower-priced load increases sorting, disposal, or downtime, the real cost can end up above a cleaner load that runs through the line faster.
Set purchase specs and test them on receipt. Document moisture, mixed-polymer share, and visible trash, then tie supplier pricing to accepted yield. That keeps gross margin steadier and protects the cash the owner can actually pull out.
Test every inbound load.
Price by accepted yield.
Track freight at 0.5% to 0.8%.
Watch reject and downtime rates.
2
Recycled Resin Sale Price
Recycled Resin Sale Price
Sale price is the cleanest top-line lever here: it sets revenue per pound or per unit, so every contract change moves cash available to cover overhead and owner pay. In year one, modeled prices are $1,200 for rPET, $1,000 for rHDPE, $1,100 for rPP, and $900 for recycled LDPE.
By mature year, source prices span from $100 per mixed plastic lumber unit to $1,280 per rPET flake unit. Buyer contracts, polymer type, color, purity, and commodity markets drive realized price, so a better spec mix can lift margin fast, while a price drop hits profit even if tons sold stay flat.
Track Net Realized Price
Track net realized price by product, not just list price. Record contract price, freight terms, rejects, and any quality discounts so you know the true cash per unit. If the facility sells mixed grades, separate rPET, rHDPE, rPP, LDPE, and mixed plastic lumber into different lines.
Use one simple test: if a lower-priced grade is filling the line, check whether the volume gain beats the margin loss. A 5% price swing can move revenue and owner draw quickly, so update forecasts when polymer markets or buyer specs change, and do not assume this year’s price will hold.
3
Processing Yield And Output Quality
Processing Yield
Yield is the share of incoming plastic that becomes sellable output. The model should split it into wash loss, moisture loss, rejected material, and mixed-polymer loss. At the modeled mix, every 1% change in sellable first-year output changes revenue by about $294k, so small losses can move owner pay fast.
Poor yield also cuts margin because bad material still uses sorting, handling, and disposal. Off-grade resin can sell slower, sell cheaper, or sit in inventory, which ties up cash and raises buyer-acceptance risk. One clean line: better yield means more cashable pounds.
Track Losses By Batch
Measure yield by batch and by polymer grade, not just plant-wide. Track incoming tons, sellable tons, rejection rate, and disposal volume every day so you can see where losses start. Watch for any 1% swing in sellable output; at this mix, that is about $294k of first-year revenue.
wash loss
moisture loss
rejected material
mixed-polymer loss
Use buyer specs as the pass-fail line. If off-grade resin is building up, tighten sorting, rewash when the economics work, or move lower-grade output to a lower-price buyer before inventory ages. That keeps more material in the sellable bucket and lowers disposal drag.
4
Labor, Energy, And Maintenance Efficiency
Labor, Energy, and Uptime
Recurring plant costs can wipe out owner take-home even when sales look strong. In this model, direct labor plus energy runs $150 per rPET unit, $135 per rHDPE, $143 per rPP, $120 per recycled LDPE, and $25 per mixed plastic lumber unit, plus $8k a month in base utilities. The model also shows first-year sales commissions and outbound logistics at 55% of revenue, about $162M.
Here’s the quick math: if uptime slips, revenue drops and the plant still pays wages, power, and utilities. That is why grinders, washers, extruders, and pelletizers are cash-critical assets. A few extra idle days can hit gross margin twice, first through lower output and then through spread-out fixed costs. Lost uptime is lost owner pay.
Track Labor, Power, and Downtime
Measure this driver by product line, not just by month. Use labor hours per sellable unit, energy per unit, downtime hours by machine, and maintenance spend against output. If a line needs more rework or runs off-spec, it raises labor, energy, and reject costs before the owner sees profit.
Track hours per running asset.
Log kWh per unit by polymer.
Count downtime by grinder, washer, extruder.
Review utility bills at $8k/month.
Set a maintenance plan before breakdowns hit, because these machines are the bottleneck. Keep staffing tied to sellable output, not waste input, and watch whether labor and power stay inside the unit targets above. If output rises without a matching cost jump, more cash can reach the owner draw.
5
Fixed Costs, Financing, And Reserves
Cash Before Owner Pay
In this plant, accounting profit does not equal cash you can take home. Fixed overhead is $54k per month or $648k per year, and payroll rises from $830k in year one to $165M in the mature year. Add debt service, replacement parts, working capital, compliance, and inventory cash before owner draws. Profit is not spendable cash.
Build A Cash Floor
Build the cash test around a monthly floor: $54k fixed overhead, payroll, debt service, and a reserve for parts, compliance, and inventory. The model includes debt service and reserves, but no source amount is given, so set them from lender terms and operating history. That keeps cash available for operations and protects owner pay.
Track month-end cash versus overhead.
Set a reserve for parts and compliance.
Model debt service separately.
Pay the owner after cash needs.
Cash first, distributions last.
6
Compare lean, base, and high-output owner-income scenarios
Owner income scenarios
Throughput and product mix drive owner income here. Higher utilization spreads the fixed plant load, but low ramp years still carry heavy payroll and facility costs.
Compare conservative, base, and upside owner income paths.
Scenario
Low CaseConservative
Base CaseModeled
High CaseUpside
Launch model
Lower earnings in Year 1 reflect a lean ramp and heavier launch overhead.
Modeled earnings in Year 3 come from steadier output and better plant use.
Stronger earnings in the mature year come from fuller utilization and the highest revenue run rate.
Typical setup
Year 1 runs at 28,000 units and about $29.40M revenue, while fixed rent, utilities, and payroll keep pressure on owner income.
Year 3 reaches 45,000 units and about $46.77M revenue, with a steadier cost base and better fixed cost absorption.
The mature year reaches 68,500 units and about $71.69M revenue, with the plant running closer to capacity and overhead spread wider.
Cost drivers
Launch utilization
fixed payroll load
feedstock cost
freight and handling
reserve buildup
Higher throughput
steadier mix
labor scaling
logistics efficiency
fixed cost absorption
Fuller capacity use
stronger product mix
better unit economics
lower fixed drag
sales scale
Owner income rangeBefore owner reserves
$12.54MLow income
$21.53MModeled income
$35.04MHigh income
Best fit
Use this to stress-test the first operating year and slower ramp risk.
Use this as the normal operating case once the plant is past start-up churn.
Use this to test upside if throughput, pricing, and utilization all hold.
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Planning note: Scenario ranges are researched planning assumptions, not guaranteed earnings, salary promises, tax advice, or distributions; they reflect modeled results before each owner's exact debt, tax, reserve, reinvestment, and retained-cash choices.
