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The ripple effect of the housing crisis is sending untold tons of valuable goods and materials to landfills. Opportunities abound for eco entrepreneurs.
Southern California is one of the epicenters of the foreclosure crisis and mortgage meltdown. Thousands of families are being forced out of their homes or else they’re just walking away. As tragic as it is for the families who once called these houses homes, it often leaves a tremendous mess for the banks to clean up.
So they pay cleanup crews to “trash out” the vacant houses and haul everything to the local landfill: furniture, computers, clothing, toys, and televisions. Anything that isn’t a part of the structure, much of which is probably no older than the house itself, because it was likely purchased with a home equity line of credit that the family also defaulted on. So there’s real value to be found. In the above video, the trash-out guy says that he’s tried to donate the “trash” to charity but that the charities aren’t reliable and can’t act fast enough. Of course, that’s the nature of a not-for-profit organization. They aren’t too efficient.
Considering the fact that this housing downturn will probably last well through 2011, it presents unique opportunities for green entrepreneurs to capitalize on the meltdown by turning a profit and, in turn, diverting thousands of tons of waste from entering landfills.
We envision an operation that rents cheap warehouse space in strategic locations near current and pending foreclosure areas. One would partner with the trash-out companies and hire teams of low-cost labor to work with them to identify and recover the most valuable items in a highly strategic manner. Much of it can be sold through eBay and Craig’s List. Other items can be Freecycled. As the operation scales and diversifies, one could take over for the trash-out companies and offer banks a green alternative. As the company gains momentum and scale, it could operate more cost-effectively than the non-green competitors because revenue would be generated at both ends, while also saving on the landfill fees.
At the end of the day, the green option wins for everyone: the entrepreneur, the banks, and the environment. The only losers are the homeowners who bought houses they couldn’t afford and the trash-out companies that didn’t realize it was more than trash they were hauling to the landfill. It was their competitive advantage.
P.S. When the housing market recovers, this same company could switch to staging homes with a specialty in green properties.
Source: Argam from Creative Citizen
10 responses so far ↓
1 Rob // Oct 5, 2008 at 5:47 pm
Interesting business model. I think something like this could work, but I’m not sure what the potential profit opportunity actually looks like. This is hard to project since you can’t really forecast how many valuable items you will find, and in turn, how much you will net from auctioning those off. Unless this is scaled up as a very large operation, I’m not convinced it makes a lot of sense.
2 Max Gladwell // Oct 5, 2008 at 9:52 pm
If the non-green “trash out” companies can make it, then it stands to reason that the green counterparts can be more competitive. You won’t rely exclusively on the auction revenue. Plus, there should be no doubt that there will be plenty of business. We’ve got a long way to go to find the bottom.
3 MC Milker // Oct 6, 2008 at 6:22 am
I think there’s some potential for both non profits and Triple Bottom Line firms to be successful here.
To extend one of your thoughts a bit further…if entrepreneurs recover and resell furnishings, etc on E-Bay and Craig’s List to a the extent that it impacts the “new” market..it could drive down prices at traditional furnishings stores..fueling deflation (which may be coming anyway in some convoluted way because of the credit crunch) or at least driving prices in this category lower.
Something like we’re seeing in the auto market now- no one wants a new car (except hybrids) because there are so many used cars available which is causing dealers to drop prices on new cars.
4 Cris // Oct 13, 2008 at 10:49 am
This model would be excellent for organizations like we have here in Eugene, at BRING Recycling’s Planet Improvement Center. And, with eco-entrepreneurs like Terry McDonald of St. Vincent De Paul, also in Eugene…Terry who actually gets a lot of the stuff they sell at the Eugene stores buy shipping them to Oregon from out of area locations like California and as far away as England. His creative solutions also provide green jobs.
5 Contents of Foreclosed Homes Going to the Dump. Where are the Green Entrepreneurs? | Зелена Блогосфера // Oct 14, 2008 at 7:15 pm
[...] Max Gladwell speaks for a lot of us when he asks, “Where are the green entrepreneurs?” This is a prime opportunity to step in and not only make a big profit, but get items to people in need AND prevent all of this stuff from crowding landfills. It’s a win-win. [...]
6 Chris // Oct 15, 2008 at 1:27 pm
Problem is that anything worth selling on craigslist or Ebay is getting kept by the current clean-up crews anyways. So essentially the only thing a green trash-outer could do better then them is to recycle. (Plus the green crew would keep anything valuable for themselves too and unless you, the owner, was there. It simply doesn’t make much sense from an economic and manpower standpoint..
7 Contents of Foreclosed Homes Going to the Dump. Where are the Green Entrepreneurs? | Eco Buying // Oct 17, 2008 at 5:01 am
[...] Max Gladwell speaks for a lot of us when he asks, “Where are the green entrepreneurs?” This is a prime opportunity to step in and not only make a big profit, but get items to people in need AND prevent all of this stuff from crowding landfills. It’s a win-win. [...]
8 Foreclosure Crisis: Where Are the Green Entrepreneurs? - SustainLane // Oct 17, 2008 at 7:00 pm
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9 Our World and Everything in It » Blog Archive » Spreading the Wealth Around Instead of in a Landfill // Oct 24, 2008 at 2:51 pm
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10 Chris // Apr 24, 2009 at 12:11 pm
I would be happy to do this and start a more efficient business than Goodwill. There are a ton of opportunities and I for one would be happy to start this. All someone has to do is contact me or start me in the right direction. There are a ton of good things that can come from this. chrispatrick@cox.net
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