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This startup will recycle all your old stuff — and give you amazing rewards from HelloFresh, Allbirds, AMC Theatres, and more

Trashie is an innovative recycling company that rewards you for cleaning out your closet while helping the planet.

Trashie is an innovative recycling company that rewards you for cleaning out your closet while helping the planet.

Photo Credit: iStock

Recycling your old clothes and home goods just got a whole lot simpler thanks to the fast-growing recycling and rewards company Trashie. Don't let the name fool you — by turning your unwanted items into new stuff, it's anything but trashy, and you get paid for every bag of clothes you recycle. 

Sound like a plan? Here's how you can have your cake and eat it too with Trashie. 

What is Trashie?

Trashie is an innovative recycling company that rewards you for cleaning out your closet while helping the planet by keeping your used clothing and textiles out of landfills. 

Here's how it works: For just $20, you buy a fun, brightly colored Take Back Bag and fill it with your old, clean clothing, socks, underwear, shoes, accessories, bags, robes, and even Halloween costumes. You can also recycle unwanted home goods such as towels and sheets, as long as they're unsoiled. 

After you've filled up the bag, simply scan the QR code on the back and register your Trashie bag. Then, you can print out your prepaid shipping label and drop it off at any USPS location free of charge. 

When you register your Take Back Bag, you'll instantly get $30 in TrashieCash to spend on sustainable clothing through Trashie's sister site, For Days, or on Trashie's rewards site. The latter offers awesome deals on movie tickets at AMC Theaters, food delivery credits through Uber Eats and DoorDash, Allbirds sneakers, HelloFresh meals, and plenty more. 

However, the rewards go pretty fast, so make sure to check in often to snag your favorite deal.

Why should you recycle with Trashie?

Aside from the sweet rewards you can get, Trashie is also helping clean up landfills. According to Earth.org, about 101 million tons of textile waste gets sent to landfills each year, which drives up planet-warming pollution and contaminates the environment. 

Furthermore, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation estimates that only 1% of old clothing is recycled, as reported by the World Economic Forum. 

Enter Trashie. Once you send your items in, its detailed system sorts everything into over 250 categories, ensuring that 90% of Take Back Bag collections are diverted from landfills. Trashie says that around 70% of its received items are reused globally, while the remaining 20% are downcycled into new fibers or repurposed into pet bedding, insulation, carpet padding, and more. 

Each bag keeps 15 pounds of clothing and textile waste out of garbage heaps, saves nearly 1,600 gallons of water, and helps the planet breathe easier by keeping about 151 pounds of carbon dioxide pollution out of the atmosphere. 

Plus, Trashie recycles every bag customers send back, ensuring a circular system. Ready to make money to clean your house? You're just a Take Back Bag away from doing something you can feel good about, both for your wallet and the planet.

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