I’m proud to share that Trashie’s Take Back Bag sales have surpassed 500K in the last 12 months. We’ve collected 8.4M items saving 4.3M lbs from landfills, 42M lbs of CO2, and 446M gallons of water.
When we debuted the Take Back Bag, we thought that it was something people wanted, something people needed. But the speed at which Trashie has taken off has been nothing short of groundbreaking. We’ve cracked the code on a joyful, easy, and rewarding experience that drives meaningful behavioral change at scale. And we’re only getting started.
This milestone is a testament to our growing community, who are the driving force. Their participation in circularity and trust in us to keep as much waste as possible out of landfills motivates us daily.
Trashie users span all 50 states, and while New York and Los Angeles are on the list, we see huge adoption in places like Ashburn, VA, Atlanta, GA, and Dallas, TX. 40% of our users are Zillennials followed by Millennials and Gen Z, which tells us that circularity is going mainstream.
Our value prop is simple: Buy a bag for $20, recycle your old clothes, and earn rewards to use at cool merchants. However, the connected platform powering the system behind the scenes is complex.
We get asked a lot, “What do you do with all the clothes?” So let's dig in. Misinformation is rampant and can be challenging to sort through. Not all recyclers are the same and there are good and bad actors. TLDR: We strive to be the best.
A bit of background: The horrible piles of discarded textiles seen in photos are typically the result of “mixed rags,” often from curbside containers or leftover donations, being shipped blindly to offshore markets. EVERYTHING is thrown in together: winter, summer, small, large, kids, damaged, stained, coffee cups, etc. When bails arrive, a small portion can be used. The rest is dumped.
At Trashie, each item we collect is sorted onshore in our facility in TX and assigned to one of 253 grades with a documented category, size, quality, and material. The majority can be reused in their original form. We work with domestic and global markets to ensure the right things get to the right place at the right time and all products are tracked to their final destination. 70% of the world wears used clothing and extending the life of a garment can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 44%, so we prioritize responsible reuse where we can.
Approx. 45% of our collected items stay in North America for reuse, 30% are exported for reuse, and 20% are broken down domestically for recycling. Anything that is unable to be recycled is responsibly landfilled in the US. This efficient and detailed process means that we keep up to 95% of what you send to us OUT OF LANDFILL and avoid sending trash to other countries.
We can’t emphasize enough why having transparency and control over sorting is important. Please send us your questions, feedback, ideas, and recommendations. Thank you for your continued support!
