Trashie: This Side Gig is Pure Trash

If you listen to the radio, you’ve doubtless heard advertisements for a site called Trashie that promises to pay you for sending in used goods for recycling. But it’s a pay-to-play system that makes no economic sense for donors. Even if you’re into the idea of recycling, this isn’t the best way to do it.

What is Trashie?

Trashie is a recycling company that urges consumers to get rewarded for getting rid of their old stuff — everything from electronics to shoes. You do that by buying a “Take Back Bag” and mailing it to Trashie.

How it works

If you want to send goods to Trashie, you need to buy a “Take Back Bag.”

One bag, which can hold up to 15 pounds of stuff, will cost you $20. But the site encourages you to buy a one-year “unlimited” membership for $68, which lets to get and fill as many bags as you want. This unlimited membership automatically renews. However, the site is currently running a promotion that allows you to get $20 off your first year’s membership.

You take filled TakeBackBags to USPS locations and mail them back to Trashie. Trashie will credit you with “TrashieCash” as a reward.

Trashie Review

Trashie tries to sell its expensive recycling service by saying that its rewards will pay for the cost of the service, and then some, for people who use it regularly. After 10 bags, the $68 annual membership is repaid through Trashie rewards, the site says. After 25 bags in a year, you’d have earned $132.

“At this point you’re basically printing money,” Trashie’s website says.

Big catch

But there’s a catch. Trashie’s terms admit that the “unlimited” part of its “unlimited membership” is a lie. According to the site’s terms:

“While marketed as “unlimited,” the Membership is subject to reasonable usage limits as determined by Trashie in its sole discretion based on average household behavior. Excessive usage that normal residential recycling patterns may result in:

• Temporary suspension of services
• Additional charges
• Request for verification of household use
• Membership termination”

In other words, if you start to make money here, you’re probably violating the site’s terms.

Indeed, the terms also say that if you think you’re going to recycle more than 20 bags in a year, you should contact the site’s wholesale sales department.

And, by the way, Trashie can change its financial reward system at any time.

Trashie’s environmental argument

When anyone argues that Trashie math doesn’t work, Trashie switches to an environmental argument. The site claims that its recycling program is better for the earth.

According to Trashie, 85% of the stuff you donate will end up in a landfill. Trashie claims that 95% of what it takes in is repurposed, resold or recycled. Thus, even if you aren’t doing it for the money, you should do it for the environment.

There’s just one problem. There’s no way to verify Trashie’s environmental claims. And several people who say they are former employees claim that Trashie is no better at repurposing used items than anyone else.

Moreover, when a site’s own fine print says that it’s lying about its big print promises of “unlimited” recycling, why would you believe its environmental claims?

Better options

And the fact remains that there are much better options for donors. Indeed, most lightly worn used clothing, shoes, purses, sheets, towels and other household goods can be resold through sites like Poshmark and eBay or donated to charity.

In either case, you’re likely to end up far better off than if you sent the items to Trashie.

Donating to charity

Consider: The Internal Revenue Service allows taxpayers to deduct charitable donations of used goods at their fair market value, which is usually about 10% to 20% of the price of buying that item new. (Goodwill offers a handy guide to help you estimate the value of your donations.) If you don’t want to itemize donations, a decent guesstimate is that each large bag of donated items is worth $25 – $50 in tax deductions.

According to Trashie, if you donate 10 bags to them, you’ll break even. On the other hand, if you donated the same 10 bags to Goodwill, you’d get a tax deduction worth $250 to $500. Assuming you pay 20% of your income in tax, that cuts your tax bill by $50 to $100.

Selling

How much can you earn by selling your used stuff? Naturally, that depends on the quality of the goods you’re giving away. Nice, lightly-used items often sell for 40% to 50% of their original value on sites like Poshmark.

Plain junk

But what if the stuff that you’re getting rid of is ripped, stained and actually really trashy?

Why not rip it up and use it to clean the car or dust your furniture? Old and stained clothing can also be given to painting studios and child care centers to use as smocks. Towels and linens are often needed by animal rescue operations as bedding for dogs, cats and other animals.

In other words, even if you’re an environmentalist, you can recycle your own goods just as effectively as a paid middle-site.

Recommendations

I‍f it’s not yet abundantly clear, we do not recommend Trashie. If you want to sign up anyway, you can do so here. 

What their users say (from Reddit):

I’ve now tried this twice. The biggest downside is price. It costs $20 to recycle textiles in this way. The ad I saw alleged that you get the $20 back, but really you just get a coupon (that’s not equivalent to $20 BTW) to a website full of brands I’d never heard of. I didn’t end up using those “points”/coupons. I don’t need more possessions.

Don’t use TRASHIE. They sent me a condescending email that I ordered too many bags so they’re “cancelling my bags” in a “you have two options or else” type email. (Seriously?!) HAHAHA! One option was to refund. I chose refund several WEEKS ago. They’re not refunding…. And I’m about to dispute the unlimited membership charge with my credit card. These people are scammers and crooks. You’re better off not going through the trouble and giving things away to people in need. Here I was thinking my things are actually going to be recycled, benefitting the earth. CROOKS. They think they’re slick? 😆 Nothing the fraud dept. cannot handle.

Rotten rewards

Sure I’m getting $180 credit for the $90 I spent on bags. But the highest gift card I can get is $25 on restaurant.com. The site freezes on me every time I go. The next highest is $22 on known supply. You have to pay for shipping so nothing is really free. The others are discount codes where you get $100 off a $200 purchase if you have $100 in Trashie cash (credit from your clothes). I feel like I just wasted $100 to spend another $100 on more clothes I don’t really need.