Sponsors, support bodies and Travellers themselves often do not have the necessary funds to adequately capitalise the start-up of Traveller enterprises. This has resulted in the often ineffective use of valuable management time trying to cobble together a minimal amount of funds from many different sources under several different programme headings. In describing the Traveller economy it is useful to use Travellers contribution to and work in the recycling industry to illustrate its dynamics and the barriers it faces. Travellers are involved in the collection and sorting end of the recycling chain. Some processing is done in repairing items collected to be sold at the markets.
Travellers recycle ferrous metals, non-ferrous metals, car parts and household items.
It is estimated that, on average, half of scrap metal supplied to scrap merchants for recycling is gathered, stored and transported by the Traveller economy. The way the Traveller economy is organised has meant that Travellers have been able to make recycling economically viable where as approaches within the market economy have failed. Traveller recycling is dynamic in that Travellers can switch from one material to another depending on the price being paid. The Traveller economy is based on income generation rather than job creation. Traveller recycling is labour intensive but the labour input is considered in terms of self employment and is not a fixed cost factor.