Many things should be taken under consideration while starting recycling.
The most common questions are:

- Is this a thermoplastic?
- Which one?
- Is it only one kind of plastic?
- If more than one, are they compatible?
- Is this font of scraps constant and reliable?
- How much this scrap costs?
- Which is the market for the finished product?
- How much can I sell the finished product for?

Most items are marked with standard codes internationally recognized:

Type 1	PET	Polyethylene Terephtalate
Type 2	HDPE	High Density PolyEthylene
Type 3	V/PVC	Vinil / PolyVinil Chloride
Type 4	LDPE	Low Density PolyEthylene
Type 5	PP	PolyPropylene
Type 6	PS	Polystyrene
Type 7	OTHER	Multi Layers or Mix Plastics

There are many more types of thermoplastic materials that can be recycled like Polycarbonate, Polyamides etc., not listed and not marked.
We'll talk about these later on.
First question is because there are two main groups of plastics:
the most common are thermoplastics, that means that they get melted with temperature and therefore shaped in any form, re-melted for some other purposes and so on.
The other kind are thermosets that are chemically compounded and after molding are not sensible to temperature any more.

Of course, for recycling purposes, only thermoplastics should be taken into consideration.
Second question is because there are a lot of thermoplastic materials around, and most of them are not compatible each other therefore to find out what it is, is just fundamental.

You need to be sure the (scrap) material you have is only one kind.

In other words, specially in packaging, manufacturers can add some other material (to create barrier, to reinforce it or something else) so your product should be treated in a different way than normal recycling and this may mean some more expenses and/or lower quality product as result.

If material is layered with other thermoplastics, you need to be sure they are full compatible with main layer so the final result will be the one you are expecting.

Most material can incorporate few percent of some other without troubles, other can be mixed loosing only a little bit of strength  or mechanical properties while some other just don't stay together.

For a "new comer" it is very important to understand which kind of scrap you  will be dealing with, if it is, and it will be, constant as far as quality and price, and, just in case, to locate a second or more supplier of the same material.

Now, not to be pessimistic, but in this field, you better not trust anybody, including your brother, and sign a contract to last a couple of years or more.

The cost of the scrap isn't normally very important; of course, this means you should pay the market price and not more and not be afraid if price will go up.

If it will, it means you can sell your final product for more and normally the price gap will be in your favor.

Another very important matter in the recycling business, is to somehow test your final product before deliver it so, in case of any objection, you can prove what it was, the way it was and all this good things.

Just remember that when market is low, your material will be too soft, too humid, too dark and too something else (according to your customer fantasy).

When market is receptive, you can deliver anything, it will run perfectly.

To run your numbers, of course, you should know what the average price of your product is; but because raw material prices, plastics included, can vary quite a lot, go back to price history and take the average price of the last, at least, three years, and see what you get; by the way:

 

GOOD LUCK !