We have exciting news for businesses planning to invest in recycling equipment in 2026 and beyond. Recent tax legislation has created a powerful opportunity to reduce your tax burden while upgrading your operations.

What Changed?

On July 4, 2025, President Donald Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBB) into law, representing one of the most significant overhauls of federal tax policy since the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. This legislation has major implications for businesses across the recycled materials industry.

Most notably, the law permanently extends 100% bonus depreciation under Section 168(k) for qualified property acquired and placed in service after January 19, 2025. This provision was originally set to phase out over the coming years but has now been made permanent, providing long-term certainty for capital investment planning.

What Does This Mean for Your Business?

Instead of spreading depreciation deductions for capital equipment over several years under Modified Accelerated Cost Recovery System (MACRS) rules, you can now deduct the full amount of your investment in the first year. This significantly improves cash flow and reduces your immediate tax liability.

Qualifying Recycling Equipment

This tax benefit applies to a wide range of recycling equipment, including:

• Balers – Vertical and horizontal models
• Shredders – Industrial and commercial grade
• Conveyors – Material handling systems
• Compactors – Stationary and self-contained units
• Sorting Systems – Optical sorters and screening equipment

Whether you’re looking to expand capacity, modernize outdated equipment, or improve operational efficiency, 100% bonus depreciation makes 2026 an ideal time to invest.

A Simple Example

Let’s say your business purchases $500,000 in qualifying recycling equipment in 2026. With 100% bonus depreciation, you can deduct the entire $500,000 from your taxable income in the first year. For a business in the 21% federal corporate tax bracket, this could translate to an immediate tax savings of $105,000.

Ready to Take Advantage?

At BE Equipment, we’re here to help you find the right recycling solutions for your operation. Our team can work with you to identify equipment that not only improves your productivity but also qualifies for these valuable tax benefits.

Contact us today to discuss your equipment needs and learn how we can support your business growth in 2026.

We look forward to serving you and helping your business thrive.

Sincerely,
The BE Equipment Team

This blog is intended for informational purposes and should not be relied upon as tax, accounting, or legal guidance. Tax regulations are subject to interpretation and change. We encourage you to work with your accounting and legal advisors to evaluate how these provisions may benefit your specific business situation.

The post 100% Bonus Depreciation Is Now Permanent appeared first on BE Equipment Inc.

Unplanned downtime and the need for more skilled workers pose significant challenges to facility productivity in the recycling industry. With the average factory experiencing 144 downtimes per year, costing an estimated $2.3 million annually, the need for efficient maintenance strategies becomes crucial. Furthermore, the aging workforce and growing skills gap intensify the pressure on plant managers to optimize maintenance practices. This blog post will explore four recycling equipment maintenance strategies – Reactive, Preventative, Proactive, and Predictive. Then we will discuss how these strategies maximize equipment uptime and minimize operational costs.

Types of Maintenance

Reactive Maintenance: Fixing When It Fails

Reactive maintenance, also known as “Fix it when it fails” or “Run to failure,” involves using the equipment until it breaks down. While this strategy reduces the cost of condition-based or usage-based maintenance, the high maintenance and production downtime costs make it unsuitable for critical machinery. Although reactive maintenance is effective for inexpensive and easily repairable non-critical machines, it increases inventory and labor costs.

Preventative Maintenance: Fixing Before Failure 

Preventative maintenance, also known as “Fix it before it’s due to fail” or “Interval-based monitoring,” aims to prevent equipment failure by scheduling maintenance tasks at regular intervals. This strategy is suitable for assets with age-related failure modes. However, applying it too broadly is a common mistake in implementing preventative maintenance. This strategy could also lead to unnecessary downtime and excessive routine maintenance expenses. Only assets with age-related failure modes use this strategy.

Proactive Maintenance: Maintaining Optimal Performance

Proactive maintenance focuses on reducing the likelihood of equipment failure by adequately operating the machinery and conducting proactive tasks such as cleaning and lubricating. By eliminating root causes of loss, this strategy extends equipment life and minimizes unplanned downtime. However, successful implementation of proactive maintenance requires management support and sufficient scheduling to perform the necessary tasks.

Predictive Maintenance: Optimizing Performance

Predictive maintenance, also known as “condition-based monitoring,” leverages technology and data to predict equipment failures before they occur. Plant managers can schedule repairs or component replacements by monitoring machine conditions and analyzing trends at the most convenient time. This strategy would reduce downtime, repair costs, and spare inventory. Predictive maintenance is particularly valuable for critical assets with a high cost of downtime, assets prone to failure, and equipment that is challenging to access for regular inspections.

Leveraging the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT)

To enhance the effectiveness of predictive maintenance techniques, equipping recycling equipment with sensors and connecting them to the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is crucial. IIoT enables real-time monitoring, data collection, and analysis, providing valuable insights into equipment performance and condition. By leveraging IIoT capabilities, plant managers can proactively address potential failures and optimize maintenance schedules. Moreover, this will ensure maximum equipment efficiency and minimize operational disruptions.

Maintaining Recycling & Waste Management Equipment

Maintaining optimal performance and reducing unplanned downtime in recycling facilities require effective maintenance strategies. By carefully selecting the appropriate approach for each equipment type, plant managers can strike a balance between minimizing maintenance costs and maximizing operational efficiency. Reactive, preventative, proactive, and predictive maintenance strategies each have merits. But with the advent of IIoT and data-driven insights, predictive maintenance is becoming an increasingly valuable tool in the recycling industry. Recycling facilities can overcome maintenance challenges and achieve higher productivity while contributing to a sustainable future by implementing these strategies.

BE Equipment, Inc. is dedicated to helping your business achieve recycling equipment maintenance strategies to optimize machine performance.

Contact us here.

The post Recycling Equipment Maintenance Strategies appeared first on BE Equipment Inc.