KENYA · GUIDE 0765 · EDITION 4.2
Scrap metal sorting in Kenya: Risks and Launch Plan
Set the conditions for a safe commercial test
- Stolen goods
- Sharp or contaminated metal
A mixed scrap load can disappoint when valuable-looking items contain lower-value material, lawful ownership is unclear or hidden contamination makes handling and resale inappropriate for the planned operation.
A risk list is useful only when it changes a decision. For each risk, write the observable warning, who checks it and the response before the next commitment. Do not treat a reserve of money as permission to continue unsafe or unauthorized work.
Use a small, measurable pilot
Accept a small documented batch only after confirming ownership and downstream terms.
The pilot scope is: Define the metal categories and lawful sourcing evidence required by the buyer, excluding unknown containers or hazardous equipment that cannot be safely identified and handled within the operation.
| Gate | Evidence before continuing |
|---|---|
| Scope agreed | Define the metal categories and lawful sourcing evidence required by the buyer, excluding unknown containers or hazardous equipment that cannot be safely identified and handled within the operation. |
| Output acceptable | Present a representative sorted batch to the intended buyer and reconcile grade descriptions with accepted weights, checking whether coatings or mixed attachments change the classification and payment basis. |
| Costs recorded | Include collection, separation labour, weighing, storage and transport, assessing margin from accepted grades after deductions rather than applying a favourable metal price to every mixed item obtained. |
| Buyer response recorded | Keep source confirmations, grade disputes, accepted weights, separation time and buyer deductions, documenting excluded items so future collection teams recognise what the business has decided not to handle. |
Stage the launch around prerequisites
First confirm the buyer specification and activity requirements. Then compare suppliers, establish suitable facilities and prepare the operating record. Run the bounded trial when those prerequisites are in place. Review actual costs, quality failures and cash collected before increasing the commitment.
This sequence is not a promise that the complete business cycle fits into 30 days. Growing periods, qualifications, approvals, seasonal access and customer buying cycles can require longer. Revise the schedule when a prerequisite changes rather than skipping it to meet a launch date.
Choose continue, revise, pause or stop
Continue only when the scoped result is accepted and direct costs and payment timing are workable. Revise one part of the offer if the problem is identifiable and affordable to test again. Pause when required information, permission, skills or resources are missing. Stop the affected work when safety, consent or lawful authority is uncertain.
Keep a maximum test loss and unpaid-balance limit suited to your actual funds. A successful single delivery is useful evidence, but it does not establish year-round demand or justify committing every available resource.
Tie launch milestones to observable checks
| Risk signal | Evidence to inspect | Response to test |
|---|---|---|
| Grade purity is disputed | Compare buyer examples and actual identification evidence. | Hold/regrade through a competent receiver rather than inventing purity. |
| Material resembles infrastructure assets | Check source documents and approved escalation. | Stop the transaction and use the proper authority/operator process. |
| Weights do not reconcile | Review tare, rejects and each scale ticket. | Resolve the difference before payment/transfer records close. |
Outstanding go / hold conditions
- Actual licences, source ownership, hazards, grades and weights require verification.
- No scrap-price, assay or legal-trading authorization is supplied.
Assign an owner, evidence reference and review date to each unresolved condition. Do not give every milestone a fixed calendar date when it depends on a crop, production, approval or competence cycle. Run only a suitable limited trial, reconcile accepted output and actual cash, and record whether the evidence supports holding, revising, proceeding within the limit or stopping.