Originally published for Marin Living Magazine.
Multiple colored bins at the end of our driveways are typically home to an island of proverbial misfit toys. How do you know if you’re putting the right recyclables in the right bin? And even if you do, will they actually be properly recycled?
Ridwell CEO and co-founder Ryan Metzger and his son Owen pondered this when trying to toss dead batteries: if not in the bin, then where do they go? After tracking down a safe disposal location, father and son filled any extra vehicle during their runs with recyclables they helpfully picked up from neighbors. Owen’s List, as it was then known, became a weekend pickup program spanning 28 categories with 1,200 good Samaritans in Seattle, recycling everything from batteries to Styrofoam to light bulbs.
“Today, we’ve grown to over 100,000 members in seven states and saved 23 million pounds of waste from the landfill,” says Gerrine Pan, VP of partnerships of Ridwell — the organization sprouted from Owen’s List that just launched in Marin a few months ago.
Ridwell is Owen’s weekend trash run to the max: the monthly subscription service picks up recyclable and reusable goods at your house that aren’t easy to dispose of. No one wants their goods to end up in a landfill (even though an estimated 55 percent of them make their way there anyway), but finding the proper place to recycle takes time and energy that not everyone has.
Ridwell picks up multilayer plastic, plastic film, batteries, light bulbs and more household goods straight from your doorstep — a service that Marinites have wanted for a while.
“Something we see in the Bay Area, and very strongly in Marin, is a culture of appreciating nature and of being mindful stewards of the earth. That’s what makes Marin so ideal for the Ridwell service,” Pan says, noting that Marin has been one of the company’s most successful launches to date, garnering more than 1,000 members in just the first two months following service expansion to the area.
To give back to the community and create a more holistic impact, Ridwell also partners with local nonprofits in each city it serves. Since starting in Marin, the team has worked with Make It Home in San Rafael to provide furnishing and household goods to folks transitioning out of crisis. The team is currently collecting art supplies for SCRAP SF, pantry supplies for the Berkeley Food Network and food for the East Oakland Collective. All supplies are picked up from member front porches and donated where they’re more needed.
These efforts are just the beginning. “We are in eight major cities today. We would love to see Ridwell in every major city in the U.S. with millions of members wasting less every day,” says Pan. “Our vision is to educate communities and change consumer behavior, one member, one household, one neighborhood, one community at a time.”