RecycleMatch launches an eBay-style market system for industrial waste

RecycleMatch launches online bidding for waste and recyclables

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

RecycleMatch, the first online Business-to-Business (B2B) marketplace for business recycling and waste diversion, has recently announced that it is creating the first online marketplace to address $90 billion business recycling and zero waste market

RecycleMatch gives companies a new way to buy, sell or give away their large volumes of waste and commodity recyclables. Companies list materials free of charge on the site, with their brands and identities kept confidential. Prospective buyers can ask questions, get samples and make offers on the materials which can be reused or upcycled as well as recycled. The listing company selects the party that is the right match for their goals, which may include environmental requirements as well as price.

Corporate zero-waste initiatives from Wal-Mart, IBM and others are compelling innovation in the waste and commodity recyclables markets, which combined represent nearly $90 billion in total market opportunity. Companies in the US today spend $22 billion to landfill materials they no longer need, the value of which is estimated at $20 billion. RecycleMatch’s new technology release allows them to capture this market opportunity as well as shift the existing $47.3 billion commodity recycling market to more efficient online transactions.

Because of changing customer demands and supply chain mandates by industry leaders, companies are scrambling to reach zero waste. 70% of materials that get dumped into landfills could, theoretically, be repurposed, and the RecycleMatch marketplace finds those alternative uses.

Even commodity recyclables already being diverted benefit from better market exposure and pricing. RecycleMatch is the first marketplace designed specifically for the needs of large corporations who want control, protection, and trust in the entire process.

Without the likes of RecycleMatch and companies that upcycle “industrial” recyclables most of the stuff that is being dumped and which could be repurposed but currently is not, would completely fill our landfill sites and we do not have enough holes in the ground to go around as it it.

When we look at the situation in Britain, as an example, there are ten million plus tons of building lumber of all kinds being landfilled every year and most of that lumber could be reused by simply removing a couple of nails or screws and such.

I know of other industries too, such as those that make tents, awning, curtains, to name but a few, where tons of waste material, which could be reused and upcycled, is sent to landfill annually. And it is a disgrace, gobbles up resources of all kinds and to boot is very bad indeed for the environment.

RecycleMatch is the first B2Bonline marketplace that allows companies to buy, sell or give waste and recyclables through online transactions. The company’s goal is to make landfills obsolete by making the commodity recycling market more efficient and opening up new markets for materials currently considered waste. RecycleMatch connects companies that have waste such as plastics, textiles, paper, chemicals, food and organics, metals, building materials and others, with those seeking to reuse, upcycle, recycle or downcycle materials in a wide range of industries. Located in Austin and Houston, RecycleMatch was named Entrepreneur Magazine’s Most Brilliant Ideas in 2010. For more information or to make a match, visit http://www.recyclematch.com.

© 2011