Known for mail-in consumer textile recycling, Trashie is moving from closets to junk drawers with mail-in e-scrap recycling, which launched on Dec. 2.
The “tech take back box” comes in two size options, small and medium. The small size will accept cords, cables and phones, while the medium size will fit tablets and computers up to 16 inches. The small box, which customers can order for $20, holds up to 5 pounds of material. The medium box, which costs $25, holds up to 10 pounds.
Customers will mail the boxes back via UPS, and Trashie will sort, grade and move the material to downstream partners for either reuse or recycling.
Annie Gullingsrud, Trashie’s chief strategy officer, told E-Scrap News that the service was an organic progression, as the company focuses on circularity and access to recycling. Trashie started after hearing customers say, “I don’t know what to do with the pile.”
“Our customers have also been saying, ‘I have this drawer, I don’t know what to do with this drawer,’ and so part of our objective here is to help customers alleviate that unwanted stuff and that clutter,” Gullingsrud said. “Clean it out, reward them for it, and then make sure all of that stuff finds the next best home.”
In exchange for returning the box, customers get up to $40 in TrashieCash, which can be redeemed for rewards and deals, according to a press release.
Trashie is building on its processes for grading and sorting textiles, Gullingsrud added, and is choosing processing partners that adhere to DoD 5220.22 and NIST 800-88 data destruction standards.
“The companies that we’re working with are compliant with all the relevant standards, the top standards for data sanitation and erasure,” she said, adding that all processing and recycling happens in North America. She declined to name the companies.
Trashie plans to create reports for customers “to bring more transparency into the system,” Gullingsrud said.
“We know how to keep things in circulation, and we know that sometimes, despite our best efforts and intentions, it doesn’t,” she said. “And part of the reason is transparency, or just not completely understanding the system or knowing where things go.”
The chain-of-custody report will track packages from when the customer puts it in the mail to when it arrives at the different facilities, Gullingsrud said. Each box has a unique number and QR code.
“We’re able to associate a person with diversion from landfill, diversion of CO2 emissions, prevention of CO2 emissions, and then we’re able to also track that material as it’s going into the mail, and as it’s arriving to the facility, to ensure everything arrives,” she said.
Trashie also worked with UPS to make sure that the packaging for the electronics was safe and in line with shipping regulations, Gullingsrud said, as well as discreet, without much branding, to minimize theft appeal.
Mail-in electronics recycling has become an increasingly popular offering by processors in recent years. Several options launched in 2019, and in 2020 the model gained steam as the COVID-19 pandemic restricted in-person collection events. Mail-in options are now provided by numerous firms, including major retailers like Best Buy and specialty collection companies such as TerraCycle.
Many organizations, including the United Nations, have been vocal about the need to recycle more e-scrap: End-of-life material generation is “outpacing the rise in formal recycling by a factor of almost 5 – driven by technological progress, higher consumption, limited repair options, short product lifecycles, growing electronification and inadequate e-waste management infrastructure,” a recent report stated.
