Turning Waste Paper into Money

If you asked anybody where money is, he/she will definitely tells you, ‘he doesn’t know’. This is because everybody is looking for money but nobody knows where money is residing. If you asked even Bankers for money, they will also tell you that they are also looking for money. So where does money actually reside?

Money resides in products and services. Money resides in problem solving, money resides in your gift or talent, money resides in ideas, money resides in opportunities, money resides in YOU!

You can find money anywhere through the above. But for the purpose of this article, which is on ‘turning waste paper into money’, I will concentrate purely on how to recycling waste paper to produce toilet roll.

Waste paper recycling and toilet roll production constitute an integrated project. Carefully innovated to meet the challenges of the hard times, it is an industrial project that has the potential of turning waste into wealth.

The project entails the recycling of waste to produce jumbo rolls, which are convertible into tissue paper (toilet rolls) or other sanitary tissue products. The attractiveness of this venture lies in the fact that it is a step further than the commonplace toilet roll manufacturing. The well-known toilet rolls are cut out from toilet tissue jumbo rolls while the jumbo reels on the other hand, are processed out of the waste paper products.

Apart from jumbo rolls, other paper products such as envelopes and exercise books may be produced from waste papers. But the jumbo roll products appears to be more profitable than other paper products that may be derived from a paper recycling plant.

Again, while there are so many toilet roll producing outfits in the country, there are only about few producers of jumbo rolls, capable of producing all grades of the intermediate product, and yet fewer number of paper recycling plants capable of producing the grades A,B, and C grades of jumbo and by extension, the finished tissue products.

It may appear to the ordinary observer that the market for jumbo roll is saturated, but this is not so at all. The demand far outstrips supply. Based on empirical research, this finding is authoritative. Therefore, given the existence of every few jumbo roll producers in the country today, any entrepreneur who ventures into the production of waste paper recycling for jumbo roll production, will definitely reap immense rewards.

The importance of toilet rolls being a basic requirement by every household cannot be overemphasized. The product is consumed daily. Obviously, it is preponderantly an urban project. Besides its use in homes, tissue paper is also used in hotels, hospitals, offices, restaurants, and for cleaning the hand and mouth. Some people even prefer it to the handkerchief because of its relative cheapness.

Investment in the proposed project is made more attractive by the fact that the raw materials would be readily available if the jumbo reel plant is installed as an extension of the toilet roll plant.

The cost estimates for establishing a paper recycling plant include; pre-investment – $1,000 (Toilet Roll Plant) and $2,000 (Integrated Plant); Prepayments – $1,200 (TRP) and $40,000 (IP); Machinery & Equipment – $10,000 (TRP) and $62,000 (IP); Project Vehicle – $10,000 (TRP) and $12,000 (IP); Fixtures & Fittings – $2000 (TRP) and $3000 (IP), Working Capital – $5,000 (TRP) and $10,000 (IP), totaling $27,200 for TRP and $129,000 for IP.

The basic raw materials for the waste paper recycling plant are waste papers obtained from printers and paper converters, newspaper houses, pool coupons, school examination test scripts, paper houses, and all kinds of paper that litter the streets while the jumbo rolls are feedstock for the toilet roll plant.

The integrated production plant has two components; the first component comprises the hydra-pulper, liquid cyclone, conical refiner, screens and others. The tissue or toilet roll paper making equipment has the following components: roll un-winder, cylinders, part two by-paper stand, rope reel, paper machine accessories, dryer and drainage systems.

For the integrated plant these machineries and equipment could be locally fabricated but quite frankly, the imported equipments are more efficient. Conversely, the locally fabricated toilet roll plant is as good as that fabricated overseas.

It is very essential that a would-be investor seeks the advice of a qualified consultant before embarking on the waste paper recycling and toilet roll integrated project, which is more technical than the ordinary toilet roll plant.

Details of production technology, raw materials, marketing strategies, equipment required, and funding options, will be incorporated in a standard and comprehensive feasibility report for interested investor who may also wish to consider various possible capacities of the plant.

However, the plant considered in the write-up here has a capacity to produce about 15 metric tonnes of jumbo reels from 16.5 metric tonnes of waste paper; (1 metric tonne will produce 200 bundles of 48 toilet rolls each). The expected returns on this investment is fantastic; for instance, the pay-back period is less than one year, while return on investment is over 100 percent.

I however advised that, a prospective investor with little capital should start small, with the toilet roll plant, then progress gradually to establish the waste paper recycling plant over time.

It will cost about $20,000 to set up a small toilet roll plant while the cost projections for an integrated waste paper jumbo roll/toilet roll plant may be approximated at $150,000.

My friend who read this article when I was typing it, says there was no more money in in circulation as banks are even closing shops and asked me where I think one could get such money to set up an industry of this nature. My answer was, if there is no more money in circulation, where are other people getting money to buy cars every day? It is high time we begin to explore the avenue of partnership rather than "stand alone". I will be on hand to assist where need be, be self-motivated, because ‘there is light at the end of every tunnel’.