The business of recycling

Earlier this year, for-profit Contra International faced a problem with a decidedly not profitable recycling initiative it operates in Lebanon. The company was doing a residential door-to-door pick up of paper, cardboard, aluminum and all types of plastics, losing money in the process. Residential pickups were not in the company’s plans when it started its initiative, Zero Waste Act, in 2011. Salim Barakat explains that, based on opinion surveys Contra conducted, the company started its recycling work in schools as it found that older Lebanese were unwilling to sort their trash at home. The idea was to “focus on the new generation.” It worked well, he says. Kids soon began pestering their parents to sort at home, and those parents brought the idea to work with them, so Contra’s first pick up expansion was to offices. Home pick up followed later, and Contra was collecting free of charge. In May,