May Newsletter
Survey
Help choose Green Friday Goods
Last November, we created Green Friday Goods, our first collection of full-circle products made from used outerwear, skis, corks, and more that we picked up from members like you.
We’re planning to offer new goods this year! Your input will help shape the collection.
You made it happen!
Better visibility into upcoming featured categories
We’ve heard loud and clear from our community that folks want a better picture of what featured categories are coming up, so you can save up the right stuff.
We recently set to work with our partnerships team to create a list of items that you can expect to see about once a year—check it out below!
Plus, our engineering team is working on making it easier to understand which featured categories we expect to return. Expect to see changes to your dashboard in the next few weeks.
Here’s the list of featured categories to save up:
CDs, DVDs, and video games
Denim clothing
Unused diapers & wipes
Essential hygiene items
Eyeglasses
Jewelry
Halloween candy
Holiday lights
Kitchen utensils and silverware
Non-perishable food
Pet leashes, collars, and harnesses
Pots, pans, and bakeware
Reusable school supplies
Reusable tote bags
Towels & blankets
Wearable bras
Winter warmth (jackets)
There could be changes in our partners which causes us to make adjustments to this list, but this is our best advice of what to save up. For example, sometimes we grow to the point where our members have more stuff that our partners can take and we need time to find additional partners. Note that holiday lights aren’t picked up in Bellingham, WA.
Did you know?
The quickest way to get answers to Ridwell questions
We’ve been thrilled by feedback from this group about how much you appreciate being able to ask questions about Ridwell, particularly about specific items we can take.
You’ve helped us realize we should do more to sing the praises of our amazing Member Success team! Did you know you (and all members) can always email or text them photos of items you’re wondering about? It’s the quickest way to get an answer!
Email: Help@Ridwell.com
Text: 888-982-7885
Survey
Weigh in on how we introduce Ridwell
As you know, the bigger the Ridwell community grows, the more waste we’re able to divert from landfills together. We want to do our best to help folks who are just getting to know Ridwell discover what we do. To that end, we’re currently considering new headlines to explain what Ridwell is. Will you take a moment to react to a few options?
Hometown pride
Why we love our yard signs
Did you know? Every time we bring Ridwell to a city, we work with a local artist to create a yard sign that reflects the local community. By displaying a sign, you can share and celebrate your effort to send less to landfills.
If you don’t already have one, we’d love to drop one off for you! Just send a request.
We’ve featured stories about a handful of the artists, too!
Ridwell tips
How to make sure we can reuse your big plastic bags
You know the big orange bags we provide for recycling Styrofoam? We’ve gotten thoughtful questions about how to prepare them so they’re reusable—and we appreciate it! One big way we reuse these bags is to hold bales of multi-layer plastic, distinguishing them from bales of plastic film, which go in clear bags.
Good news: there’s not much you can do wrong here! As long as the Styrofoam bags stay dry, we can reuse them. Just tie them at the top and leave them out for us.
Now, in some cities, you may also fill big blue bags with plastic clamshells. Because clamshells hold food like berries and salad greens, they’re more prone to residue, which can make the bags difficult to reuse.
Here are our tips to keep them in good shape:
Give your clamshells a quick wipe with a paper towel to get out any food residue. Just make sure they’re completely dry when you put them in your bag to avoid mold.
Make sure you’re only putting #1 PET plastic clamshells in the bag. Some folks confuse black-bottomed takeout containers, which are usually #5, with what we can take. When takeout containers get mixed in, they can easily leave a mess.
Similarly, when you’re shopping for an item that comes in a clamshell, choose a clear option. Tinted plastic is less recyclable simply because there’s not an end market for it. The folks who make new clamshells out of old ones only want the clear #1 PET.
What about bags that we don’t reuse? They go to our plastic film partner Trex to become composite decking planks. We love having a good solution for bags that can’t be reused because they’re ripped or otherwise past their usefulness.
Reminder!
We have a Facebook group
The Ridwell Community Builders Facebook group is up and running! We love seeing you there and welcome everyone to join.