Who knew recycling could be so profitable!

[infoman96 27]

Well to begin I've been working on this same city, Charlotte, since the game was released and its specialized in education because it really doesn't have adequate resources to be anything else except a gambling city. Because this lack of resources and the high cost of educational facilities I've made about $5k a hour or less for the most part therefore if I needed to pay for anything I usually used bonds to do it. Well today I've made the best investment I could ever make when I took out 3 $100k bonds to pay for a Nuclear power plant, New water pumping station and, the golden Recycling Center. Because my city has is super educated, the people always asked for a recycling center but I thought it was a huge waste of money (it cost like $111,000 which is pretty steep for a city that can barley afford to pay its bills) but I still built it.

 

Upon the construction of building it, I read the description that you can use the trade depot to sell plastic, metals, etc. so I decided to build it and here's where the money rush came in. For every 1,000 plastic units, you get $18,000 and for every 10 tons of metal you get $29,000, with me having two big neighbors that need recycling facilities and them having way more recyclable goods then I have, I decided to donate trucks to their cities in effort to make extra cash. So far I've made about $60k a day off of it, which may seem low to others but for someone that has been struggling to pay for so much before, this has been tremendous help. So what I'm suggesting to others that may be like myself, build the recycling center and trade depot and you can make extra cash. 

 

So far with the extra cash I've added 20k people to my city since I have the cash to build more (I only have $44k now because I went on a investment spree by building a new dorm, new medical school, another nuclear reactor, and even a monument) and my city is growing a lot more smoothly with cash on hand, my bonds are nearly paid for now, infact I can pay them all off I want to right now. Lately I've been working on building a area to my city I call "University City" that of course has the university but its now forming its own separate skyline as well.

 

Well anyways, I hope some of you take my advice, here's a few pictures of 'U.City' and my skyline.

 

U.City:

 

 

 

 

 

U.City and the Research Park

 

Before U.City was built, in the foreground you can see sewage pipes, a casino that were there before U.City began construction and Downtown Charlotte is in the background.

 

[fretz- 1]

I am loving the recycling also.

 

Am running a £25K p/h defecit on the budget but  the profit from 2 fully upgraded recycling centres is putting me back in a juicy profit.

 

Overall, Recycling and Waste Management are the only services I am struggling to keep pace with in a big population city. If they would collect all the Recycling there is out there I would be making millions!...

 

 

[wags13604 11]

That'a awesome I might try that I'm out of ideas for what to do in my city I'm kind of stuck.

[ColSink 0]

For me, recycling is *especially* useful as a source of Alloy for producing processors. Just buy plastics from the global market.

In my city below, 6200 recycling bins gets recycled to enough alloy to run one processor factory continuously with 4 processor assembly lines.

8000 recycling bins could run two processor factories continuously with 4 processor assembly lines each.

[infoman96 27]

For me, recycling is *especially* useful as a source of Alloy for producing processors. Just buy plastics from the global market.

In my city below, 6200 recycling bins gets recycled to enough alloy to run one processor factory continuously with 4 processor assembly lines.

8000 recycling bins could run two processor factories continuously with 4 processor assembly lines each.

I can't wait to have as much money as you do; I'm getting ready to make a investment in a processor factory soon so I'll be need a lot more money. Just by shipping recyclables I've earned a trade HQ, so that shows how much money is coming out of recycling right now. My research/tech-park is gradually being demolished to lower the amount of jobs available in the city (sounds weird right, but I have far too many unfilled jobs. My unfilled jobs is down to 16,197 from a high of about 20k and that's from demolishing my tech park, demolishing some of my commercial buildings, and placing more residential zoning) so I'll be building my new processor plant there along with expanding my U.City area to accommodate a new school.

My unfilled jobs is down to 15,050 finally! My city is booming right now.

[ColSink 0]

Once you get processor factories up, the simoleon starts blowing in:

My goal is to achieve end-game (city no longer develops any further) by end of Year 2.

Then you'll have enough money to start another city in the region.

(Population was down after a massive zombie attack)

[Sunfighter 186]

High tech stuff is retardedly unbalanced right now. There are some people running around with 660 MILLION+ monthly budgets due to TVs and processors being unbalanced. The fact that recycling alone is profitable even before making processors with the leftovers is just mind numbingly strange. There is a reason why cities make you PAY to pick up your recyling..its because recycling is extremely expensive and costly..... I always knew simcity had a green bias, but its crazy how lopsided it is currently

[infoman96 27]

Once you get processor factories up, the simoleon starts blowing in:

My goal is to achieve end-game (city no longer develops any further) by end of Year 2.

Then you'll have enough money to start another city in the region.

(Population was down after a massive zombie attack)

My processor factory has afforded me more capital improvements in my city so far, only thing is the cost of alloy is killing my profits. How do you make your own alloy? I only have one bond in my city right now that could be paid off but I'd rather just pay it off later because my city is profitable right now. Do you know to build computers or TV's? I want to start making these serious investments now while I have the cash, but like I said, I need to kill the price of alloy off first.

 

And I think my city is already built since my population is't really rising anymore, its at 94,950 which is high considering my city at on point wouldn't go pass 60k. I wish I had a city as dense as yours.

[infoman96 27]

I have one more question regarding the processor factory, bare with me because it may sound a bit complicated. 

 

My current processor plant has a limit of 10 tons of alloy, and my trade depot has a limit of 20 tons of alloy, because my city doesn't produce its own alloy and I don't want to be overcharged for alloy, if I buy 20 tons of alloy this month how will it be distributed to my processor plant? If my processor plant has 8.3 tons of alloy, will the game deliver all 20 tons (mind you I only have a 10 ton limit at the processor plant) to the processor plant and the rest of the alloy will just disappear or will they deliver the alloy 1.7 tons of alloy and bring the rest back to the trade depot?

[Major_Heartfire 1]

When they re-enable the server wide global market, these prices will plummet. On NAWest 3 oil is only worth $4500, but should skyrocket as with most other raw materials.

 

Seeing as everyone is making a processor factory (given the relatively low entry cost of 5 medium tech buildings) the price of processor's should collapse. Plastics will also see a hefty decrease as recycling has become much more popular than when they froze the prices on Friday/Saturday.

 

I'm in the thought process now of trying to find ways to convert my city if fuel decreases in price. My entire city runs on fuel profits right now. Although the daily Expo Center events do help.

[ColSink 0]

Q: How do you make your own alloy?
A: Edit your recycling plant. I like to bulldoze the plastic reclamation line that comes default and replace with 3 alloy reclamation lines.

Q: Do you know to build computers or TV's?
A: You need a consumer electronics factory.

Q: My current processor plant has a limit of 10 tons of alloy, and my trade depot has a limit of 20 tons of alloy, because my city doesn't produce its own alloy and I don't want to be overcharged for alloy, if I buy 20 tons of alloy this month how will it be distributed to my processor plant?
A: You cannot upgrade the storage capacity of processor plants. It will always be 10 tons of alloy and 1000 crates of plastic.
When you buy alloy, it will be delivered to your trade depot / trade port. It will then be delivered 5 tons at a time to a processor factory.

Q: If my processor plant has 8.3 tons of alloy, will the game deliver all 20 tons (mind you I only have a 10 ton limit at the processor plant) to the processor plant and the rest of the alloy will just disappear or will they deliver the alloy 1.7 tons of alloy and bring the rest back to the trade depot?
A: A processor factory will only "ask" for alloy delivery if its storage of alloy drops below 5 tons. Each delivery truck will deliver 5 tons of alloy. The game will not allow deliveries to exceed the capacity of a plant or depot/port.

Hope this helps.

[paeng 2,526]

My goal is to achieve end-game (city no longer develops any further) by end of Year 2.

 

Just curious - how is 'end-game' determined? Is that signaled by the game (that the city will not/cannot develop further)? Can you override that, or do you then need to completely re-structure your city, e.g. with different specializations?

[lars_city 23]

My goal is to achieve end-game (city no longer develops any further) by end of Year 2.

 

Just curious - how is 'end-game' determined? Is that signaled by the game (that the city will not/cannot develop further)? Can you override that, or do you then need to completely re-structure your city, e.g. with different specializations?

 

In practice end-game is something you decide yourself, but as colsink states, pretty much when you won't develop or change anything in your region anymore, so you're just watching a static city where you do the same over and over again.

[Sunfighter 186]

When they re-enable the server wide global market, these prices will plummet. On NAWest 3 oil is only worth $4500, but should skyrocket as with most other raw materials.

 

Seeing as everyone is making a processor factory (given the relatively low entry cost of 5 medium tech buildings) the price of processor's should collapse. Plastics will also see a hefty decrease as recycling has become much more popular than when they froze the prices on Friday/Saturday.

 

I'm in the thought process now of trying to find ways to convert my city if fuel decreases in price. My entire city runs on fuel profits right now. Although the daily Expo Center events do help.

 

Id like to point out that the 4500 dollar is a game wide nerf...cause...why not..lets ignore the huge unbalance on high tech and nerf...oil.....which btw...makes it now IMPOSSIBLE to upgrade the oil HQ from is basic level, as you need 160K a day in profits...i have 4 oil mines, their max number of wells each..a small city so traffic is no problem..and I can only get about 100K a day which 160K is needed for the basic upgrade...so yea..the screwed over oil

[infoman96 27]

When they re-enable the server wide global market, these prices will plummet. On NAWest 3 oil is only worth $4500, but should skyrocket as with most other raw materials.

 

Seeing as everyone is making a processor factory (given the relatively low entry cost of 5 medium tech buildings) the price of processor's should collapse. Plastics will also see a hefty decrease as recycling has become much more popular than when they froze the prices on Friday/Saturday.

 

I'm in the thought process now of trying to find ways to convert my city if fuel decreases in price. My entire city runs on fuel profits right now. Although the daily Expo Center events do help.

 

Thank you so much; I'll try to just buy 20 tons of alloy now. Usually I'd just buy 10 tons of alloy then allow it to ship to my processor factory and then don't allow any more alloy shipments to my trade depot and allow the alloy to start shipping again when the plant hit about 2 tons of alloy. 

 

And alloy is made in a city naturally? So if I just build a new alloy reclamation line at my recycling center, it will have alloy going there? If so, that would be excellent profit. I'll try all this now!

 

Thank you all so much!

[Jellyfeetjie 0]

I've added the recycling center, and a high school, and donated trucks to my neighboring cities, but I still generate ONLY income from my taxes. Is my neigboring cities perhaps too small? Or am I missing something? I just can't seem to get the recycling centre generate a proper income.

 

Thank you

[Bobington 4]

Build recycling center then a trade depot with the proper storage lots then set it to export. Trade income shows up in a separate tab, it isn't calculated as part of your hourly budget.

[Spatzimaus 77]

Recycling centers are fantastic.  As with the OP, I hadn't realized how much money you'd get from its byproducts; the addition of recycling fundamentally changed my economy from a steady-tax-profit setup to a deficit-but-trade one.  I'm running about a 35k deficit per hour, but making far more than that from Processors.  (I highly recommend a rail-based Trade Port, by the way.)

 

Q: How do you make your own alloy?
A: Edit your recycling plant. I like to bulldoze the plastic reclamation line that comes default and replace with 3 alloy reclamation lines.

 

The plastic line is useful in its own right, as more city tiles have ore than oil.  Alloy is worth more than plastic, but you can create Alloy from Ore+Coal at a Smelting Factory (which requires someone to have placed a Metals HQ and the right expansion).  A Smelting Factory can have four production lines in two types, either Metal (uses only Ore) or Alloy (uses Ore and Coal), so if you're on a city site that has both of those resources you're set.  In other words, rather than import Alloy to supplement what your recycling gives, you can import ore and coal (or extract them locally) and combine the two on-site to make Alloy for use in Processor manufacturing.  I'm currently just selling the processors for a hefty profit, but eventually I'll make TVs for even larger profits.

 

As to what constitutes "endgame", I'll agree with the others: eventually, you hit a point where your city coasts along without any intervention on your part.  Your population is completely stable, all buildings are done upgrading wealth and density, and you've got all the power, water, and sewage disposal you'll need.  Your city is making more money than you know what to do with, and you're tempted to trigger disasters just to add a bit of unpredictability again.  Sure, you can still tweak things, but you're basically done with everything that matters.  My own city is stable at ~85k right now (although I'd peaked at 110k), and the only thing that'll cause any changes in the future will be when my ore and coal run out in 3-4 more months.  I'm sitting on about three million bucks for use in a Great Work, but my income has been seriously impeded by two of my three neighbors being recently abandoned (and no one else can claim those tiles since the creator was using one of the european tilesets), so I'm probably going to join a new region soon.

[Bobington 4]

Endgame to me would be satisfying the RCI meters, but it seems that there is infinite demand for worker and freight.

[MOWS 4 U 169]

Does the recycling money go into the treasury?