Plastics Exporter Profits from Patience!

by Kevin Taylor, CalMAX Coordinator

Grace Huang is persistent. Over five years ago, she began to contact recycling organizations for leads on available scrap plastic. Through her search, she learned of CalMAX and placed a "wanted" listing in our catalog.  While CalMAX likes to see its users get immediate results, Grace listed unsuccessfully in CalMAX for almost three years. Recently, however, her persistence and patience paid off in a big way.

Grace owns Coast to Coast Polymers, Inc., a San Francisco based company exports scrap plastics, for reprocessing. Because she ships most of the material long distances, Grace collects large amounts to make her efforts cost effective. She did receive calls from her CalMAX listing, but couldn’t find the volume she needed.

Instead of giving up, Grace took the initiative. She talked with small producers of scrap plastic who listed in CalMAX and found out who they were giving their materials to. In this way, she found some of the larger quantities she wanted. She also learned more about what was going on in the market. This was the first breakthrough.

The second breakthrough came when a large supplier contacted Grace. She ultimately obtained over 250,000 pounds of postconsumer plastic from the company. This supplier may become a regular source of scrap plastics for Grace.

Because small businesses like Coast to Coast generally do not have a large advertising budget, they benefit from the free advertising that comes with a CalMAX listing.  Grace also felt that CalMAX listings focus on what users want and often net better results than community yellow pages, which can be costly and broad-based.

Grace clearly speaks from experience when she says, "Success with CalMAX depends on your effort; if you put effort into it, you’ll get something back."  Kudos to you for persisting, Grace!

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Last updated: August 01, 2008