End-users or manufacturers are the businesses that actually make the new product. These materials are marketed to an intermediate processor or to an end-use market. Processors typically sort materials by type and grade, and then bale, shred or granulate them to create a marketable intermediate product. These buyers sell to brokers or end-use markets. Brokers buy and sell recyclable materials and often arrange to have them shipped from one location to another by haulers or processors.
Some brokers provide processing services, while others purchase only processed recyclables.
Brokers generally sell to end-use markets, and are often able to pay premium prices because they accumulate and sell large quantities of materials. They usually prefer to purchase trailer-load quantities of recyclables. End-users , or manufacturers , purchase recyclable materials from a number of sources and remanufacture those materials into new products. However, some specialized end-users, such as animal bedding manufacturers, often purchase smaller quantities. Some general rules of thumb usually apply to these four types of buyers.