Market Analysis of Recycling Kiosks
Waste management has been proven to be a real challenge among populations and societies. With the increasing populations and the expanding consumption rates, waste volumes continue to threaten the sustainability efforts of waste management. The state of the environment has continued to degrade to poor waste disposal, and there are significant health impacts that have emerged as a result. Government agencies and private entities have continued to join efforts to enhance waste management efforts over time, but there have been significantly low positive results of such initiatives as noted by Bing, Bloemhof, Ramos, Barbosa-Povoa, Wong, and van der Vorst, (2016). However, in the recent past, waste has been identified to have significant potential to generate income through the implementation of recycling programs. It is for this reason that recycling kiosks have emerged as an alternative approach to waste management. Being a new approach, and one that is focused on profit-making, it is perceived as one of the effective waste management approaches. This report seeks to undertake an analysis of both the size of the market and the financial sustainability of recycling kiosks.
Kiosk Locations and Modes of Operation
Recycling kiosks would have to be strategically located within commercial stores where consumers can easily access and bring their recyclable materials. A majority of household goods and items are obtained from both large and small commercial retail stores which almost all groups of consumers visit quite frequently. Thus, these are some of the strategic locations where recycling kiosks can be located to ensure that consumers can learn of the uses and convenience of these recycling kiosks. A list of all recyclable waste materials that can be accepted and processed would be made available at these recycling kiosks, and consumers would be encouraged to bring these items back the next time that they visit these stores. To ensure that consumers are motivated to engage in this unique recycling practice, different incentive programs could be put in place, including shopping discounts and cash incentives. In this way, the consumer population would develop a recycling culture through the recycling kiosks by not disposing of their waste and being rewarded for their new recycling habits.
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Market Analysis
For any business venture to succeed, it is essential that both the qualitative and quantitative details of the market are gathered. According to Buxel, Esenduran, and Griffin, (2015), the market analysis process is vital, and it is conducted to understand the various aspects and elements that would influence the performance of the particular business in its operational environment. It sets the pace for the business to enter the market environment and determines the strategy that would enable the realization of the development of a competitive edge and business sustainability.
Market Size
Waste generation occurs in every segment of the population because each of these populations belongs to a particular consumer group. For this reason, recycling kiosks target all consumer groups, including children, youths, adults, and the elderly. In this case, the market size is considered to be relatively big and would have many customers who could participate in the recycling program. Also, recycling kiosks can be established in every consumer store to ensure that all the customers get to participate in the recycling program. With the participation of numerous customers, recycling kiosks have a tremendous potential to collect massive amounts of waste in an economical manner and to recycle these items for financial gains.
Customer segments
All the consumer segments in the economy would be targeted, including children, youths, adults, and the elderly. There will be no significant differences because the products that are recyclable fit the description of recyclable materials collected by the recycling kiosks. Because of this relatively broad customer segment, there is a high potential that the recycling kiosks would have a constant flow of recycled materials throughout the year.
Buyer and Supplier Powers
The strategy employed in this recycling program is such that every time consumers purchase products, they are reminded of recycling their waste material. Coupled with the generalized customer segment that the program targets, the buyer powers may vary; but considering that the incentives program would be in place, it can be concluded that the purchasing power of the buyers is relatively high. The suppliers, in this case, refer to the recycling kiosks which are actors engaging in the recycling programs. Since the strategy is still new for the most part, there are relatively fewer players and competitors who have already established recycling kiosks. For this reason, the existing recycling kiosks have a high potential of performing well in their market environment.
Competition
Being a new recycling strategy, the approach has not yet been adopted by many; therefore, the level of competition is relatively low. Since a majority of the recycling initiatives have been proven to be ineffective in the past, the recycling kiosk approach is perceived to have an added advantage, especially with its incentive program in place. Its customers would have a reason to continually take their recyclable wastes to the business since they would benefit financially. It can be considered a sustainable approach that will provide the business with further opportunities to expand and even venture into new markets.
Economic Environment
The regulatory environment in terms of regulation is not too strict and rather somewhat lenient considering that the approach is regarded as a positive approach towards waste management. Business players can quickly enter into this business segment as long as they have met the set safety standards for handling the waste materials for recycling. With the ability to exploit these possible business opportunities, it would be easier for many more competitors to enter this business environment and further expand the existing business opportunities. Based on this, recycling kiosks would need to be able to diversify the recyclable materials that they would consider appropriate based on their specific areas of specialty. With this approach, the business will be able to establish a niche that it can entirely focus on and ensure that it becomes an expert in specific recyclable materials.
The Financial Viability of the Market Kiosks
The target market for the recycling kiosks is the consumer population, which can be identified as the population in its totality. Having identified waste management as an existing challenge, the consumer consumption patterns, and the viability of waste management as an income-generating activity, recycling kiosks have the potential to be a financially viable and successful business. The study of consumer consumption patterns coupled with the repeated failures identified in waste management by different institutions, the business venture is strategic and would facilitate the realization of significant profits. Waste management is one area that does not have numerous actors; therefore, there is a greatly reduced level of competition. This means that the business does not have to engage in intensive promotion and advertising activities; instead, a majority of consumers would get to identify this new strategic opportunity that has emerged. In this way, the company will be able to have the opportunity to get a larger market share and eventually have the opportunity to realize increased profits.
Focusing on the recycling kiosk strategy for providing shopping discounts and cash incentives, the kiosks are focused on ensuring that they can effectively inculcate the recycling culture within the consumer population. While it incurs some costs in the process of providing these incentives, the business approach would eventually peek, and sustainability would be realized in the long run. Finding a ready market for these recyclable materials is a major opportunity for the kiosks as it will be able to make the most out of what was considered useless.
Conclusion
With the ever-rising population and the increasing rates of human consumption, waste management will remain to be a significant challenge in the economy. It is crucial that income-generating activities are identified from wasted management practices, such as the establishment of recycling kiosks, to offer a more practical and reasonable approach to waste management and recycling. There exists a major opportunity for these kiosks to thrive in such a polluted environment. Considering that there will be the provision of some financial incentives for individuals who engage in the recycling program, a majority of the population would be attracted and become part of recycling. The attitude and behavior change aspects of this program are what bring about some major variations with other waste management approaches. Additionally, the business has some major financial capabilities that would facilitate its sustainability in the long run. Therefore, the recycling business approach is viable, sustainable, and at the same time, facilitates the realization of positive social and environmental outcomes.
References
- Ackerman, F. (2013). Why Do We Recycle? Markets, Values, and Public Policy (1st ed.). Washington, DC: Island Press.
- Biddle, D. (2014). Recycling for Profit: The New Green Business Frontier. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/1993/11/recycling-for-profit-the-new-green-business-frontier.
- Bing, X., Bloemhof, J. M., Ramos, T. R. P., Barbosa-Povoa, A. P., Wong, C. Y., & van der Vorst, J. G. (2016). Research Challenges in Municipal Solid Waste Logistics Management. Waste Management, 48, 584-592.
- Buxel, H., Esenduran, G., & Griffin, S. (2015). Strategic Sustainability: Creating Business Value with Life Cycle Analysis. Business Horizons, 58(1), 109-122.
- Credgington, A. (2012). UW introduces 'intelligent' kiosks for composting, recycling, and garbage. https://phys.org/news/2012-04-uw-intelligent-kiosks-composting-recycling.html.
- Faunce, L., Hook, L., Blood, D., & Reed, J. (2018). Why the world's recycling system stopped working. https://www.ft.com/content/360e2524-d71a-11e8-a854-33d6f82e62f8.
- Ferreira, B., López, A. D., Aliaga, C., Monedero, J., Martí, J. L., & Hortal, M. (2012). The Economic Aspects of Recycling. INTECH Open Access Publisher.
- MacBride, S. (2012). Recycling reconsidered: The present failure and future promise of environmental action in the United States: Urban and Industrial Environments. MIT Press.
- Powell, J. (2018). Recycling Market Update. EPA. https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/201803/documents/recycling_market_update_slides.pdf.
- Zimring, C. A. (2009). Cash for your trash: Scrap recycling in America. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
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