Next time you clean out your house and find yourself with loads of stuff to get rid of, skip the trash bag and grab the Trashie bag instead. This one simple swap will keep more trash out of landfills and put more money in your wallet.
What is the Trashie bag?
Trashie is a recycling and rewards company whose Take Back Bag — a fun, brightly colored bag about as big as a pillowcase — allows customers to send used items back to it for rewards.
Each Take Back Bag costs $20 upfront and can be filled with unsoiled items such as clothing; shoes; home goods including sheets, towels, and robes; bags; and even seasonal items like Halloween costumes.
Once the bag is filled, you simply scan the QR code for a free shipping label. You can drop the bag off at any USPS location for free or at a UPS Store for a small fee.
When customers ship a bag back, they are rewarded with $30 in TrashieCash — credit that can be used on sustainable apparel through Trashie's sister site, For Days, or on Trashie's rewards site for things such as discounted movie tickets at AMC and Regal theaters, food delivery from DoorDash and Uber Eats, and clothing and accessories from Allbirds, Pela, and more.
Why is it anything but trashy?
Rewarding customers for helping the planet is a class act. According to Earth.org, over 100 million tons of textile waste are sent to landfills annually. The Environmental Protection Agency reports that thrown-away clothing is the biggest source of textile waste in the United States, estimating that only about 13% of all clothing and footwear is recycled.
Further, when items are thrown away instead of repurposed, the resources that go into making them — land, water, and dirty energy sources for transport — also go to waste.
Trashie sorts the received items into over 250 categories. Around 70% are re-used globally, while over 20% are recycled into new fibers and for uses such as pet bedding and building materials — all while also putting a little money back in the pockets of people willing to take the extra step.
How does it stack up?
By allowing customers to make money on clutter they may otherwise throw out, Trashie is helping to clean up the environment.
According to its website, every Take Back Bag keeps up to 15 pounds of textile waste from landfills, 151 pounds of planet-warming carbon dioxide out of the environment, and saves 1,596 gallons of water.
Plus, Trashie recycles all the Take Back Bags it gets back. In short, the Take Back Bag brings a lot of bang for the buck.
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