New Recycling Company Comes to Town

The consumer recycling effort is complicated and fraught with problems from slim markets for certain materials (see the percentages from two years ago here) to consumer education and discipline about sorting and contamination.  I worry that a lot of what I put in the blue bin doesn't get recycled in the end--and I'm paying for it on the front-end (CRV) and the back end (to Recology).  I'm not alone and that has presented an opportunity for a new company to come to B'game.  I started seeing Ridwell boxes and lawn signs a couple of months ago--they look like the milkman drop boxes of old--white with red letters.

Ridwell found the Voice and offered up a call with the CEO, Ryan Metzger, to explain what the company is up to.  Organized as a Social Purpose Corporation, it offers a subscription service for scheduled pick-up of otherwise less-recyclable materials like light bulbs and "plastic film"--which is the myriad plastics that you can scrunch up in your hand.  In addition to the recurring items, Ridwell runs "specials" --featured categories of materials that are scheduled out six months in advance, e.g. CDs/DVDs are coming up soon.

For about $15 a month a subscriber gets the box, separate bags that go in the box for different materials, an IOS app and a dashboard to see how you are doing and what is coming up.  I haven't tried it myself so I'm hoping some Voice reader is among the ~125 customers in B'game and can weigh in.  The company notes:

We provide lots of education on what can / can't be recycled, have a staff of employees who answer questions, give people material to pre-sort rather than mixing it altogether, and then publish data on how much of it came in the way it was supposed to so that it can improve over time.  As a result, we have very high-quality bales of plastic. Our members are showing that the 9% number (Ed: from my earlier post) on how much plastic is recycled is not fixed and can actually go up!

On their end, Ridwell works directly with a number of organizations that take their better-conditioned recyclables, e.g. the composite lumber manufacturers like Trex.  Clothes and shoes ("threads" in Ridwell parlance) go to Goodwill or other similar organizations.  I'll be curious to check in with them after the first year of local operation and see how it's going.  In the meantime, welcome to B'game.

Comments

[Mark Lucchesi]

Joe, so besides paying Recology each month we can sign up and pay another 15.00 to the new guys in town? What’s the advantage, or what’s the point? Mark

[Joe]

I think it rests on two principles. First, Ridwell takes things Recology doesn't. Second, you can be more assured the stuff actually gets recycled. If that makes you feel good it's also better than some idiot telling you to rewire your whole house and buy more expensive appliances and furnaces that don't work as well as your old stuff :-)

[hollyroller@ gmail.com]

Gentlemen. Gentlemen.
What's "The Back Story?"

[Paloma Ave]

Another company wanting to pick the pockets of local residents who have been convinced that THEY are destroying the planet?

[hollyroller@ gmail.com]

Oh.
Hello "Hillsider."

[Joe]

Gents (if it's still OK to say that),

I'm not endorsing them or vilifying them. But if a B'game do-gooder want to pony up $180/yr to feel better about themselves, so be it. It ain't picking the pocket if you invite them into your wallet.

As I said above, there are plenty of enforced ordinances that aren't voluntary to complain about. Wait until I do the post about the Utter Nonsense being foisted on our small local merchants regarding becoming their own little recycling centers for bottles and cans. You won't believe it.

[Cheryl Reiss]

Hello Burlingame! I wanted to let you know that Ridwell has just expanded its pickup service to include previously unrecyclable packaging, like the bags your frozen berries and favorite almonds come in. As a family, we often buy bags of chips, nuts, granola bars and frozen food, and almost every single one of those wrappers ends up in the landfill, polluting our environment. Residents in the Bay Area trying to live more sustainably have been asking for a convenient solution for years. Ridwell, the service picking up reusable and hard-to-recycle items from homes in the Bay since 2022, has a first-of-its kind sustainability program in partnership with specialty recyclers who give the material a new life. So much of the food we enjoy is packaged in what’s called multi-layer plastic. Traditional curbside recycling programs won’t take it because it’s made up of several layers of plastic and other materials fused together. Think of the shiny inside of a chip bag, for example. Ridwell’s program empowers Burlingame’s residents to keep those items from ending up in the landfill. You can learn more at https://www.ridwell.com.

[Joe]

At the one year anniversary in B'game, Ridwell is getting some national press:

https://www.cnn.com/videos/tv/2024/01/22/sstb-ridwell.cnn