If you’re new here, you should know I love to donate things. I’ve got a bag of giveaway items that lives in my laundry room – it’s never-ending purge mode over here! Our local Buy Nothing group on Facebook is a great option, but sometimes there are things that don’t make sense for that or a Goodwill drop. I’m also a big fan of recycling. My poor husband – I get on him for throwing things in the regular trash can all the time. But, the more I’m researching, the more I’m learning that there are certain things that seem recyclable, but they actually aren’t. For instance, do you know that those produce plastic bags should not be recycled or thrown in the trash? Yes, they can be recycled, but they can cause damage to the sorting machines, so many cities, like Austin, have asked customers to stop placing them in their recycling carts for curbside pickup. Another thing I learned – as Austinites, only have nine years of landfill space available to us. That means we’ve got to work together to eliminate our waste production!
The City of Austin does have some great options to dispose of those hard-to-recycle items likes batteries or plastic film, however, those options involve you going somewhere…and remembering to take those things with you. I can’t tell you how many times we’ve gone to the library and I’ve thought “dang! I forgot the batteries again.”
How easy would it be if you could just set that stuff on your porch and have it picked up and disposed of or recycled responsibly?
It exists! Meet Ridwell.
When you sign up for Ridwell (*click here for one month FREE!), they’ll bring a bin to your porch and inside will be five cloth bags – one for each of the following categories:
• Plastic film
• Batteries
• Lightbulbs
• Threads
• Featured category
*this rotates from pickup to pickup
I just signed up for my free trial; my bin arrived the next day! I’m keeping the bags in the pantry for easy access and when it’s time for pickup, I’ll simply put those cloth bags in the Ridwell bin on my porch and their team will come pick them up. Pickups happen every two weeks and no, your bags don’t need to be full! But I promise you’ll be surprised how fast that plastic film bag fills up! Ziploc bags, bubble wrap, grocery and produce bags, dry cleaning bags, bread bags – the list goes on and on. Together we can make a difference.
Recycling is not a one person show – we’re all in this together! And, you can share a box with a neighbor, Ridwell doesn’t mind!
It can be overwhelming to do your best with recycling and minimizing what goes into the landfill, but we’re all just trying our best and Ridwell is here to make it so much easier. I haven’t even had my first pickup yet and I already feel great about the small difference I’m making.
I know there may be some that are skeptical about recycling, but Ridwell aims to educate those skeptics with their transparency promise. They’re very clear and open about where these categories are going. For instance, they work with local companies like Trex for the plastic film recycling. Trex turns the plastic film into decking material – how cool is that? Ridwell’s website has a page dedicated to giving you an honest look at where your items are going. This was really cool to hear – 97% of what Ridwell has collected has been successfully recycled. That’s so awesome!
Coming up as a Featured category in my neighborhood, they’ll be collecting school and office supplies in gently used, reusable condition. For things like this, think of items you would typically take to Goodwill or another donation location. You want to donate things that people can still use. This is not for broken crayons or dried markers. The same goes for the Threads category – these are items you’d typically donate. But with Ridwell, you can include things with holes or rips. Even underwear, socks or fabric scraps. The Ridwell team will ensure these items also get recycled the correct way. Once you sign up, your member dashboard will give you tons of information about what they can and can’t take.
I love this company; it’s such a great idea and service. The convenience alone has me wanting to shout this from the rooftops. No more trunk full of goods waiting to be dropped off, no more forgetting bags of batteries in the drawer (me!) and no more leaving a burnt-out lightbulb in the bathroom fixture (also me!).
With Ridwell, we can save TONS from the landfill every year to support our community and build a brighter future for ourselves and generations to come.
Ridwell has so kindly given South Austin Moms a FREE one-month trial.
I really hope you’ll take advantage of trying this service.
After the month is up, there are different very reasonable pricing options. Month-to-month at $16/month or yearly at $12/month. You will enter a credit card when signing up for the free month, but if you aren’t a fan after the first month, no hard feelings – just let them know.
To find out more about Ridwell, check out their website or visit them on Instagram. I would love to hear what you think, let me know!