How Much Tire Recycling Owners Can Make With $26M Revenue
You’re trying to see whether a tire recycling business can pay you, not just produce revenue In the supplied planning case, first-year revenue is $26M and gross profit is $229M, but final owner take-home is not stated because debt service, taxes, full utilities, reserves, and reinvestment are not provided These are researched planning assumptions, not tax advice or guaranteed distributions
Owner incomeN/ANet margin47%Revenue for target pay$2.6MBusiness difficultyHard
Want the six owner income drivers?
1
Process Volume
5.1K-16.7K
More tires through the plant lifts saleable output from Year 1 to Year 5 and spreads fixed costs over more units.
2
Price Mix
$300-$750
A better mix of fine crumb and fiber versus lower-price steel raises revenue per unit and boosts owner take-home.
3
Yield Quality
87%-90%
Cleaner separation keeps more material saleable, which protects margin before overhead and owner draw.
4
Plant Uptime
$1.2M-$6.7M
Higher uptime keeps labor productive and supports the EBITDA path from Year 1 to Year 5.
5
Labor Control
$500K-$735K
Keeping wages and overtime in line as output scales stops labor from eating the extra gross profit.
6
Cash Buffer
-$1.6M
The month-7 cash trough means reserve discipline decides whether profits stay in the business or reach the owner.
Want to test your owner income?
Owner income calculator
Estimate owner take-home and the target-pay gap from revenue, margin, costs, reserves, and target pay.
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Planning note: This is a researched planning estimate, not guaranteed salary, tax advice, or owner distribution advice.
Want to see Tire Recycling cash flow?
This dashboard shows revenue, COGS, operating expenses, fixed costs, owner pay, and cash flow. It ties product volumes to prices, with $26M in year one and $938M at maturity. Open the Tire Recycling Financial Model Template.
Owner-income model highlights
Cash before owner draw
Contribution after variable expenses
Gross profit, rent, reserves
Scenario tests by volume
What revenue is needed to pay a tire recycling owner?
Revenue needed to pay the owner isn’t one fixed number; it depends on the owner draw you want, gross margin per unit, fixed overhead, debt service, and reserves. No target salary is given, so use a formula, not a universal multiple: revenue needed = (fixed overhead + debt service + reserves + owner pay) ÷ gross margin. For Tire Recycling, first-year known cash before owner pay is about $193M after COGS, 7% variable expenses, and $180k annual rent, and heavier equipment payments or reserves cut owner draw fast.
Owner-pay math
Set the target owner draw first
Add debt service to fixed costs
Hold cash for reserves
Back into revenue from margin
Cash pressure points
7% variable expenses already bite
$180k rent is fixed
Equipment payments reduce owner pay
Reserves can shrink draw fast
What tire recycling operating costs affect owner income most?
The biggest hits to owner income in Tire Recycling are hauling distance, collection cost, labor, power, blade wear, downtime, quality control, packaging, residue disposal, and the sale price of each output. If you’re sizing the model, see How Much Does It Cost To Open And Launch Your Tire Recycling Business? because the margin moves fast when unit costs shift, even a little. Here’s the quick math: source prices are $37 for fine crumb, $33 for coarse crumb, $30 for recycled steel, $32 for processed fiber, and $43 for rubber mulch, while logistics starts at 5% of revenue and sales commissions at 2% in year one.
Biggest cost drivers
Hauling distance raises freight fast
Collection cost sets intake margin
Labor and power hit daily cash
Blade wear and downtime cut output
Price and waste pressure
Quality control protects sale price
Packaging adds per-unit cost
Residue disposal lowers net income
Small changes matter at scale
How does scale change tire recycling owner income and risk?
Tire Recycling can protect cash at the owner-operated stage, but it also caps throughput. The real inflection point is scale: volume grows from 5,100 units in year one to 16,700 units in the mature year, so hiring routes and operators only makes sense when feedstock and end-market contracts are already steady.
Cash stays tight early
Owner-led work keeps payroll low.
Throughput stays limited by one team.
Cash is safer, but growth is slower.
One person can’t run many routes.
Scale raises both upside and risk
More plants can bring more cash.
They also need financing reserves.
Maintenance and payroll become fixed costs.
Scale works only with locked-in buyers.
Key Takeaways
Volume grows income only when margins and uptime hold.
Route economics decide if fees create real cash.
Material quality drives whether premium prices stick.
Fixed costs and financing can block owner draws.
Compare low, base, and high owner-income scenarios
Owner income scenarios
Owner income swings with throughput, product mix, and the fixed plant cost base. In this model, EBITDA rises from $1.2M in Year 1 to $6.7M in Year 5.
How output and cost load change take-home potential.
Scenario
Low CaseLow Case
Base CaseBase Case
High CaseHigh Case
Launch model
This lower path uses Year 1 volume of 5,100 units and about $2.6M in revenue.
This middle path uses Year 3 volume of 11,000 units and about $5.9M in revenue.
This stronger path uses Year 5 volume of 17,000 units and about $9.4M in revenue.
Typical setup
The plant carries $26,000 in monthly fixed costs, 7% variable expenses, and early-year output.
The plant is past startup, the sales manager is at 1.0 FTE, and the fixed cost base stays at $26,000 a month.
The plant runs at mature volume with full sales coverage, 8 general laborers, and the same fixed cost base.
Cost drivers
Throughput
selling price
logistics
labor load
fixed rent
Throughput
product mix
variable freight
labor staffing
fixed overhead
Throughput
sales execution
freight discipline
labor efficiency
capacity use
Owner income rangeBefore owner reserves
$1.2MDownside band
$3.8MCore band
$6.7MUpside band
Best fit
Use this to stress-test early volume, hiring, and cash draw in the first operating year.
Use this as the planning case for a steady ramp and normal plant utilization.
Use this to test mature throughput, tighter cost control, and cash needs at scale.
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Planning note: Scenario ranges are researched planning assumptions, not guaranteed earnings, salary promises, tax advice, or distributions.
Tire Recycling Core Six Income Drivers
Processing Volume
Processing Volume
When tire recycling plants keep equipment and crews busy, owner income rises because more units spread the same rent, labor, and overhead across more output. Here, source volume grows from 5,100 units in year 1 to 16,700 units in the mature year, or about 3.3x more flow. The win only holds if gross profit per unit stays positive and contamination, storage, and downtime stay under control.
Track Volume by Margin
Measure units processed, gross profit per unit, route density, and buyer demand every week. Here’s the quick math: volume only helps if the extra tires earn more than the extra collection, sorting, and handling cost. If one load needs rework or sits in storage, cash gets trapped and take-home pay falls even when the plant looks busy.
Track contamination by load.
Watch downtime in hours.
Test route density before adding miles.
Match output to buyer demand.
One clean rule: busy is good, profitable is better. If throughput rises but margin per unit slips, owner draws usually lag because working capital gets tied up in inventory and labor before sales cash comes back.
Plant Utilization And Uptime
Plant Uptime
Plant utilization is the share of planned capacity that turns into processed tires and saleable output. When the shredder sits, revenue stops, but $15,000 a month in rent is still due, or about $500 per day before crews, insurance, and equipment payments. That is why uptime protects gross profit per unit and the owner’s cash for pay and debt service.
Track Downtime Early
Measure planned hours vs. actual run hours, processed units per hour, maintenance hours, blade changes, power use, and material handling delays. If downtime comes from worn blades or feedstock jams, fix that before adding volume. One clean rule: if uptime drops, unit margin drops, because fixed cost stays in place even when output does not.
Log every stop by cause.
Set blade-change intervals.
Watch feedstock bottlenecks daily.
Forecast rent against run hours.
Operating Cost Control
Operating Cost Control
Operating costs hit owner pay dollar for dollar because they sit below revenue and above profit. In year one, COGS is $308,890 on $26M revenue, or about 1.2% of sales. Add 7% for logistics and commissions, and the operating drag is roughly 8.2% before fixed overhead. If collection, shred, grind, or transport costs creep up, take-home cash shrinks fast.
This bucket includes energy, direct labor, equipment wear, quality control, packaging, collection, shredding, grinding, separation, baling, storage, and transportation. The key inputs are tons processed, route miles, labor hours, power use, downtime, and packaging waste. Here’s the quick math: every 1% of revenue saved adds about $260,000 a year in cash before tax on a $26M base.
Cut route waste first
Track route density, downtime, and packaging waste weekly. Dense pickups lower fuel and labor per ton, while fewer shutdown hours spread fixed crew and plant costs across more output. Use a simple cost per ton view by route and by process step, so you can spot where a loaded truck, a blade change, or a bad bale cuts margin.
Also watch rejected loads and rework. If contamination forces extra sorting, quality control and handling costs rise, but selling price does not. Keep a log of tons in, tons out, freight cost, and commissions; then tie each line back to gross profit per unit. That tells you whether volume is adding income or just adding work.
Tipping And Collection Fees
Tipping and Collection Fees
Tipping fees and collection fees add owner cash only when pickup revenue beats route, labor, fuel, compliance, and handling costs. For this business, source unit collection costs are about $10 for fine crumb, coarse crumb, and rubber mulch, plus $5 for recycled steel and processed fiber. That makes fee pricing a margin test, not just a volume test.
Route economics decide the take-home. Long routes, rejected loads, and extra handling can turn fee income into low-margin work, even when trucks stay busy. The simple check is whether each stop clears its own pickup cost before overhead and owner pay.
Price By Route Economics
Track each pickup by miles, load quality, labor time, fuel, and compliance steps. Set a minimum fee for each route so collected cash clears the unit handling cost and the drive time. If a route has more rejects or more miles, raise the fee or skip it.
Measure fee per stop
Track rejected loads
Log miles and labor
Price long routes higher
Separate $10 and $5 costs
Processed Material Sales
Processed Material Sales
This income driver is the cash from selling crumb rubber, tire-derived fuel, recycled steel, and processed fiber after processing. In year one, source prices range from $300 for recycled steel to $700 for processed fiber, then move to $320 and $750 in a mature year. Higher sales prices help owner pay only if yield and contamination stay tight.
The real input is not just tons in. It’s sellable output per ton, product mix, particle size, contamination rate, and buyer contract terms. If premium crumb rubber does not meet spec, the margin falls fast because more labor, energy, and handling sit behind each sale. Here’s the quick test: more revenue matters only when each extra ton sold adds more gross profit than it adds processing and freight cost.
Track yield, spec, and contract price
Measure sellable tons, not just inbound tires. Track yield by product line, reject rate, and average realized price versus the $300 to $750 range. If one buyer pays up but demands cleaner or finer material, confirm the net margin after extra sorting, grinding, and testing. That is the number that protects owner draw.
Use buyer contracts to lock volume and price where you can, then test small spec changes before scaling. Watch contamination, particle size, and downtime together, because weak quality can turn premium pricing into discount pricing. If a load fails spec, cash slows, inventory builds, and fixed costs hit harder, so forecast sales by product and yield, not just by inbound volume.
Track realized price per product.
Track yield by ton of input.
Track contamination and reject rates.
Match output specs to contract terms.
Capital Costs And Cash Reserves
Capital Costs And Cash Reserves
Capital costs can block owner draws even when gross profit looks solid. In tire recycling, shredders, grinders, trucks, site work, repairs, blades, and maintenance reserves all use cash. With $15k a month of rent before other fixed costs, a profitable month on paper can still leave little cash for the owner.
The key test is operating profit versus cash available after debt service and reinvestment. This source does not give equipment debt, taxes, or reserve amounts, so distributable owner income cannot be finalized. Here’s the quick math: owner draw = operating cash - debt payments - required capex - reserve buildup. If equipment financing is heavy, take-home pay drops fast.
Track Cash, Not Just Profit
Measure monthly cash burn, debt service, and replacement spending before you set owner pay. Track blade changes, truck repairs, downtime hours, and cash days on hand. A plant that looks healthy at the gross profit line can still fail to fund draws if maintenance spikes or the shredder sits idle.
Set a repair reserve per machine.
Review debt before each draw.
Forecast blade and wear parts use.
Hold cash for slow collection months.
Use the same rule every month: pay the owner only after operating cash covers fixed costs, financing, and the next round of maintenance. That keeps draw decisions tied to real cash, not accounting profit. If reserve needs rise, owner income should fall first, not vendor payments or equipment upkeep.
