Small business idea.Need your opinion

thomy

Hey folks. So I have a business idea for the Christmas holidays period. I've been thinking about real Christmas trees. Many of us have them at home. But at the end of everything here is a problem what to do with castoff trees. Usually we put it in bin or jam in car and transport to collection place. So my idea is to collect these trees for small price with van.What do you think? How much would you be prepared to pay?:)Thank you for answers.Sorry for my poor language skills, I'm new here:)

bungler

It would have to be cheap because i live in DUblin and there is 3 recycling places that take tree's that are only one minute from my house so its not much hassle bringing it over.

In saying that if you knock on doors after xmas and catch people it could be a runner but i cant see people paying more than 5-10 quid for it

ringster

:eek:hey does anyone know how i would get in touch with the people that own charlie browns bar in athlone. It,s the one accross from the college or even if there's an auctioneer that has it maybe

fishy21

drop flyers in letter boxes and charge no more than 5 quid. you could make a nice bit of money off it. Good luck.

Cianos

Thomy, do you have a waste permit? If not, you're not legally allowed charge a fee for waste collection.

MidlandsM

Cianos wrote: »

Thomy, do you have a waste permit? If not, you're not legally allowed charge a fee for waste collection.

Yep, a permit will be required. I think you're barking up the wrong tree with this..........:D

thomy

I've be thinking about the price.Lets say you live far away from recycling place. So you have to take the tree to your car. After that you would like to hoover your vehicle.Fuel+hoover at petrol station+time~3 eur.at least. Am I right? So 5 eur should be reasonable price for the service. But I wonder how many people would need this.;)

bungler

what way do you plan on advertising this so people know what you are doing?

thomy

Think the best way is like fishy21 said is drop flyers in letter boxes. This will be cost roughly 800-1000 Eur for making them and distribution to 10k houses.Any ideas?:)

Cianos

You're opening yourself up for getting in trouble if you go through with this. Unless you have a registered waste permit you can get fined and the whole thing will be a big waste of time/money.

bungler

thomy wrote: »

Think the best way is like fishy21 said is drop flyers in letter boxes. This will be cost roughly 800-1000 Eur for making them and distribution to 10k houses.Any ideas?:)

To be honest Thomy, its been said to you a number of times " DO YOU HAVE A WASTE PERMIT"

A lot of people will not give you business if you dont. but if you did your laughing because you can advertise the balls out of it and make a fortune but if you dont have a permit your gonna be in trouble with it.

Where did you say you are oing to dump the tree's?

thomy

No, I don't have a waste permit. But do I need that if I gonna dump the trees to the same recycling places which you have mentioned bungler?Here are lot of things which I should to know but please be patient to me cause I'm still learning

bungler

i could be wrong but

I think the recyclying centres for tree's and in Ballyogan dump are designed for domestic use ie if you bring one tree but if you are doing it commercially and making money i think there might be a problem.

tomED

I would think technically you'd need a permit too.

I was thinking this the other day when I saw a number of tree sellers offering, set up and collection after Christmas. I've seen at least 2 in the southside of Dublin offering this service

Kinetic^

tomED wrote: »

I would think technically you'd need a permit too.

I was thinking this the other day when I saw a number of tree sellers offering, set up and collection after Christmas. I've seen at least 2 in the southside of Dublin offering this service

I reckon they're taking them back and creating mulch out of them and selling it on.

moggie4000

Kinetic^ wrote: »

I reckon they're taking them back and creating mulch out of them and selling it on.

If it's costing you 800-1000 euro to advertise, you'd need to collect 160-200 trees @ €5 a piece to break even. If you take into account your diesel costs etc... not much profit.

I'm all for new ideas and good to see somebody coming up with new ways to make a few quid but you might be onto a non-starter with this one, especially if you require a licence.

Moggie

BnB

I think it's actually a good idea. I live back home in the sticks now so it's a fairly easy case of chucking it over the ditch, but I do remember the last few years I lived in an Estate in Limerick, it did become a real pain in the a55.

However, your plan has holes in it.

The first is, as the lads said, a waste permit. If you are going to do this legit, you definately need one.

The second is, what you are going to do with them. I doubt very much that you will be welcome at the local recycling centre. I do know one company in Limerick that recyce pallets and general wood and they often pay for that kind of stuff. If you could find someone similar in Dublin, they would be more suitable. They might even pay you a small amount for them.

If I was you, I would try it casually this year as it is way too late in the day to get set up properly. Just go knocking on doors in the first few weeks of January offering to take the tree away for a fiver or a tenner or whatever you are going to charge. Arrange some place to take them for you.

If it goes well, then get yourself set up properly for next year.

tomED

Kinetic^ wrote: »

I reckon they're taking them back and creating mulch out of them and selling it on.

Ah never thought of that! Makes sense!

thomy

Decided to scrap this idea cause need more time to find out more about waste permit and etc. Thank you all for your answers. I appreciate that. Going to find another idea

dh0661

The guy we buy our x-mas tree from will also collect them for a €10 fee. This €10 goes to a nominated charity, this year it's
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