The recovery economy

Most of what gets thrown away isn't broken.

Refresh Reuse Recycle is where independent recovery businesses get their playbook and get found. We write up how each material stream works, and we do the advertising that puts an operator in front of the businesses with material to move. The operators own the trucks, the shop and the customer.

Who this is for

Three doors, and none of them go through us

A material stream is a real business with real trucks and real customers. Our job is to describe it honestly and to make the person running it easy to find.

Operators

You want to run one

Every stream is written up as a package — what it costs to start, where the margin actually is, what licences your state wants, and how to land a first commercial account.

Businesses with material

You need it gone

Offices, clinics, schools, contractors, property managers and estates. Find the operator working your stream in your area and deal with them directly — they quote, they schedule, they haul.

Operators already running

You want to be found

Search and answer-engine visibility for a trade nobody thinks to look up until the day they need it. Directory presence, a real website, and the advertising behind it.

The model

From discard to inventory, in four steps

The same loop runs on every stream. It is the reason the name has three R's in it — and a fourth step that pays for the other three. An operator runs all four.

1

Collect

The operator picks up from businesses, institutions, job sites and estates, handles the loading and the manifest, and sets their own terms.

2

Refresh

Tested, cleaned, repaired and upgraded where it is worth doing. Data-bearing devices wiped and documented by the operator.

3

Reuse

Refurbished goods sold retail and online at fair prices. What an operator chooses to give away is the operator's own decision.

4

Recycle

What is genuinely finished gets broken down to commodity — metal, board, plastic, glass — and sold by the pound to processors.

Read the full model

The streams

Eight streams, eight packages

Each one stands on its own — its own suppliers, its own customers, its own margins. Each is a business somebody can run on its own.

Computers & IT

Desktops, laptops, servers, networking gear, monitors and phones coming off business refresh cycles.

Package

Appliances & Scrap Metal

Refrigerators, washers, dryers, HVAC units, water heaters, and mixed ferrous and non-ferrous metal.

Package

Office Furniture & Fixtures

Desks, chairs, cubicles, conference tables and shelving from downsizings, relocations and closed offices.

Package

Building Materials

Cabinets, doors, windows, fixtures, lumber and tile recovered by careful deconstruction instead of demolition.

Package

Textiles & Clothing

Clothing, shoes, linens and fabric, sorted into wearable, resale-grade and mill-grade rag stock.

Package

Restaurant & Kitchen

Commercial ranges, coolers, prep tables, smallwares and dish machines from closures and remodels.

Package

Medical & Mobility

Wheelchairs, walkers, hospital beds, shower chairs and durable medical equipment.

Package

Pallets & Packaging

Wooden pallets, crates, totes, drums and gaylords repaired and put back into circulation.

Package

See every stream

What you get, and what stays yours

The package is the business, minus the truck

Written plainly, because the line matters: we are a marketing and advertising company. We never touch your material, your customers or your paperwork.

YOURS

The truck, the shop and the tools. Your suppliers and your customers. Their material while it is in your hands. Your licences, insurance and paperwork. Your prices, and every dollar of what you make.

OURS

The written playbook for your stream. Your listing in the operator directory. Your website, and the search and answer-engine advertising that makes it findable. That is the whole list.

Start a recovery business

Pick a stream and read the write-up before you spend anything.

  • A written playbook for the stream you choose
  • Honest startup costs, and where the margin actually is
  • Licensing and permit requirements for your state
  • Scripts for landing your first commercial accounts
  • A listing in the operator directory from day one
See the packages

Find an operator

Search by stream and by town. Deal with the operator directly — they set the terms and the price.

  • Listed by material stream and service area
  • Contact details go straight to the operator
  • Every town has a page, listed or not yet
  • Charged more than the recommended price? Tell us, and they come off the list
Open the directory