Since launching in specific Twin Cities ZIP codes in January, Seattle-based Ridwell has seen success selling Minnesotans on easy disposal of hard-to-recycle items. Ridwell hopes to make sustainability simpler by collecting and recycling items that public services won’t pick up, including plastic shopping bags, old clothing and new this fall, Styrofoam. “When you look in a dumpster, there’s just so much more that actually can be recycled, but it’s hard because it’s either small, it’ll clog up recycling facilities’ machinery or it’s really expensive,” said E.J. Tso, general manager of Ridwell’s St. Paul facility. “Batteries, for example, when I hear a municipality say, ‘Oh, you can just put them in your trash,’ it kind of kills you a little bit; you really don’t want that to go in the trash.”
Currently, about 4,000 Twin Cities members receive biweekly collections through Ridwell’s subscription service. The company is expanding its reach into the Twin Cities, with current boundaries north near Brooklyn Center, west to Minnetonka, south to Eden Prairie and east to Maplewood. Tso said Ridwell extends into new neighborhoods based on demand from residents entering their ZIP codes on the company’s website.
At about $16 a month for a three-month pricing plan, though pricing depends on location, members receive a white bin and set of five bags, each of which is dedicated to a different category of items: plastic bags and film, clothing, fabric and shoes, household batteries and light bulbs. Each pickup also includes a different “featured category,” which in the past has included corks, electronics, towels and linens. Collected items are then sorted and packaged at Ridwell’s St. Paul facility and distributed to local and national partners, such as Loaves and Fishes and the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Minnesota, which repurpose and reuse the items.