Ridwell

Ridwell has come up with a model for reducing, reusing, recycling that is genius and I only wish I had started up with them a long time ago. Our household tries in many ways to reduce, reuse, and find options for recycling items that inevitably make it into our lives. I have spent many hours trying to find ways to recycle the items that don’t go into a curbside bin only to hit dead ends on some things and the other things that I found could be recycled I have spent a lot of time and fuel on the road to get them to a place that will and can take them. Ridwell has a network of many different companies and groups that DO accept hard to recycle things like plastic caps and bread tabs, alkaline batteries and styrofoam! And so much more. Ridwell has a really great, user friendly, app that explains where each type of item ends up going. It also explains when my pick ups are and any pertinent information for “featured items “ (another thing I love). Ridwell has attention to detail. Their small brochure tells me it is printed with vegetable ink 100% post consumer paper, letting me know I can safely compost it. Ridwell, THANK YOU for your excellent customer service and for your thoughtful business model.

I have only used Ridwell about 3 months and so far they have not picked up as scheduled 2 times. So here I sit with all this stuff and the reply is “so sorry, unhappily no one can pick up Until Your next scheduled day”, which is 2 weeks away. I was offered a $4 credit as I will have “excess” in my next pick up. I asked for a credit equal to 1/2 my monthly fee as they did not pick up 1/2 of my stuff. So what is the problem? I have no answers but am quite unhappy with the service. UPDATE: I canceled my account with Ridwell, but did receive a message that a supervisor had been notified of my complaint. I wrote back that I would reinstate my account if someone came to pick up my stuff. That supervisor personally came to my home and retrieved the items that were missed earlier that day. I was told the driver was elderly and sometimes got confused with addresses. I did reactivate my account, I have empathy for the driver, however the issue has to be fixed going forward as this is a paid for service and I expect service to be performed. I also noted that one more miss will result in permanent cancelation if my account. But the supervisor took control and performed above expectation.

I love the idea and have been a customer for about a year now. Recycling and reusing items is important to me and I love that there’s a company out there trying to get it done! Just a few issues with the execution though. A few times I have had my pick ups missed or partially missed (yes, they took some of my bags and forgot to take others), no replacement bags left, charged for a month when my membership was paused while I was away, and then today they actually messaged me about my items being wet when they picked them up!!!! What!!!??? First of all it was raining all day on my pick up day. Secondly, how do I leave items outside and accessible for pick up on a day when it is raining without them getting wet??? Thirdly, the bin for items is barely big enough to fit one bag let alone multiple bags of items so again, how am I supposed to ensure that they are dry if they don’t go in the bin??? If you want items dry and accessible then provide bigger bins that allow for this!!! Love the concept, but the little oversights and bad customer service are making me reconsider.

I’m originally from a smaller town in Alabama and now live in Portland, Oregon. There were absolutely zero recycling services where I lived—including very basic ones typically provided by a city. There weren’t any third party companies or organizations that I could pay to come and pick up our recycling. So, I’m simply amazed by Ridwell and the impact that it’s having on our community and planet! I get so excited to fill up my bags and save waste from getting into our landfills. It’s reasonably priced and has EXCELLENT customer service. I had a question about my first box, and they answered my text within minutes. I highly recommend this service to everyone!

I’m obsessed with Ridwell.. it’s truly almost like a game to me. I find it a fun activity :). I’m not sure I could think of an easier, more convenient way to go green. We hear so much about how our things don’t really get recycled, so much ends up in the landfill anyway, and/or are given a long list of items that are “hard to recycle”. Ridwell takes that challenge on while you reduce your footprint on this earth, and they are transparent so when critics come at ya, you can say “actually….”. Can’t say enough! And if affordability is a concern, I recommend looking into their 6 month free trial membership. “Reduce. Reuse. Recycle. Rihanna.” -Broad City

I’m moving out of the area but wanted to leave a review. This is a great opportunity to reduce your impact in our modern world. Straight forward and easy to participate. It’s important to use the App, so you get info on your pickups. Only suggestion would be share categories much more in advance. Many of the special category items are things you’d never realize you should keep for recycling, so made it impossible to utilize that category. For example, a category for medication bottles and caps. I never hold on to them because you can’t recycle through regular waste management, but by the time I saw it was a pickup option, I could have had a whole years worth to recycle.

I love Ridwell’s service and their mission to reduce waste and improve reuse and recycling of products. We now pay less for garbage as we only need a small bin, offsetting the cost of membership. I love the new “swap” option for special items. My only critique is that you “opt in” for pick up each week rather than “opt out” if you don’t want it. Occasionally I forget to go to the app and opt in, then I miss the service I’ve paid to receive and have to wait another two weeks for the next pick-up. Otherwise, I think this is a great service and I’ve had excellent experiences with their customer support team.

They really need to have a way for drivers to contact us if they get lost. Despite a large box and pick up for the last six months, whoever was supposed to pick up, decided that they would put in that there was no box. Either they went to the wrong address or because of the weather and a large amount of pick ups, they just simply decided not to pick it up. I am overflowing and if they charge me extra because they missed the pick up that’s on them. I am not going to pay because they made a mistake! so I also sent an email and they made or arranged for a pick up later in the week. I had to check myself, but unlike usual pick up there is no notification if they did or didn’t pick it up. Hopefully this is just a one time occurrence.

As my partner and I have lived in Seattle over the last several years , we loved having Ridwell as a service but always wished for an easier mobile option to schedule pickups. The Ridwell app allows us to easily see upcoming pickups and schedule much much easier than ever before, eliminating the need to check emails or texts. We now always know what pickup categories are coming up, what we need to set out for the week, and even get helpful info about how items are processed after pickup. We love Ridwell and can’t wait to see more features added to the app!

I had been meaning to sign up for Ridwell for a while and I’ve been thrilled with entire experience. The app makes everything so easy to figure out - what’s accepted, when they pickup, account changes. This saves me hours of trying to figure out which organizations take the various recyclables. Not to mention the drive time I’m saving now that someone comes straight to my door. I love seeing how many pounds of waste I’ve saved from the landfill and keep sharing this service with everyone I know.

Review update: Ridwell failed to pick up twice in a row now, which is a month. I basically paid my monthly fee for them to do absolutely nothing. This most recent failure, they sent me a text that they picked up when they actually didn’t. Did they think I wouldn’t notice that they lied? lol. I responded to their text saying there was no pickup and asked them to clarify their text. No response. I kept waiting and no one ever came to pick up. I sent an email and am pending a response. If I don’t receive a reasonable explanation for this absolutely terrible and unreliable service, I’m cancelling cause why would I keep paying them for a service that they are not providing? Huge disappointment in Ridwell and how they have treated me.

After a friend referred me to Ridwell I decided to purchase a subscription after learning about all the things I can safely and responsibly recycle. Plus I’m learning about how items are recycled and Ridwell’s partners who are taking in the recycled products. Plus , it’s really cool to see how many things I can now actually recycle! I believe the service is easy to use and their communication is very good. I highly recommend purchasing a subscription if you want to take your recycling to the next level!

Ridwell is fantastic. They do right by the planet and also make cleaning out clutter from your own home seem accessible. I know I need to go through my close to clean it but that seems too overwhelming. But going through just to find the box of old electronics seems much more doable, and with Ridwell doing the pickup with its themed categories, it’s much easier to actually get the items out the door and out of the landfill as well. I cannot recommend them enough!

A friend told me about your service and I’m all in! I have had things like pill bottles and batteries and other effluvia gathering in my house that I was determined not to put in the landfill to decompose over the next millennium. Your service lets me feel that I am doing my part to protect the earth for current and future generations. No more just being a “consumer” (why do we let ourselves be termed that!?!)…I want to be an American who is a part of the world citizenry concerned with taking care of the planet.

I am indebted to Ridwell for finding ways to keep products out of the landfills. This past week in particular was an eye-opener. When they first announced they would be collecting multi layer plastics, I started collecting…I was overwhelmed by the amount of multilayer plastics that come into this residence. When you consider that these would go into the garbage otherwise…and then a landfill…it seems like we as caretakers of the earth should be demanding a change in how these products are packaged.

After seeing the documentary “Plastic Ocean” it needs to be all hands on deck to minimize our negative impact on the planet - if we have any care for succeeding generations not to mention countless species. Once the habit gets established it is pretty easy to collect old batteries, plastic tops and bags, unneeded textiles, and many others for pick up every other week or as needed rather than adding to the waste stream. An organization well worth supporting!

I want to thank Ridwell as a company that was created to recycle those items that normally are not recycled. This great service is complimented with incredible customer service as well. It is an all-out outstanding company. It is with great sadness that I have to cancel my service because the apartment building I’m moving to won’t allow it. I will sign up again in a heartbeat if anything changes. Apartment buildings need to figure it out!

I love recycling. Ridwell is awesome for helping me keep things out of the landfill. What I dislike is nearly every pickup my driver(s) charge me extra when they shouldn’t. If I use the app and identify what I’ve got setting out, the app tells me how much extra I’ll be charged. Usually it’s $2 for an extra bag of plastic film. However EVERY dang time the driver also charges me $2 for my FREE featured item. I then have to reach out to Ridwell to be credited. (Which they always do, but if I don’t micromanage the driver, I could potentially be being overcharged by $40-$50 per year.)

Ridwell is a great concept but the material streams are obscure and niche. For 16+ dollars a month, it is too expensive to use. It is not 16 dollars a month. That’s just false advertising. If you want to recycle anything that is more commonly used, there are extra fees. 16 dollars a month for all those empty prescription bottles and light bulbs that I collect every month? That wouldn’t even make sense on an annual basis. Why would I pay 192 dollars for the year for like maybe 10 lightbulbs, 12 batteries, and 5 prescription bottles. That’s ridiculously overpriced for uncommon items. Paying extra for clamshells and styrofoam just makes it even more of a ripoff.

We are very grateful you are there to help us to fulfill our responsibility for the bits and pieces of wasteful packaging we end up with, even though we try to practice sustainable purchasing. The onus of responsibility, for all the unnecessary waste, truly is the corporate manufactures and their care-thee-not attitude and the Plastics and Packaging lobbyists. And thank you for sharing the stories about the differences made by our care-we-must community. Peace, Denise S.

I’ve been using Ridwell for less than a year, but have had a good experience. Always on time, clear instructions on each pickup, and new featured pickups of hard to recycle items each time. They are efficient as you must opted in each time, the recycled items are put to good use, like making Trex building material from the plastic or pouches from the blue jeans.

I am so excited to be part of Ridwell. This is a game changer for me. I’m a pretty good recycler, but all the things that we can’t recycle have always bothered me. Now I have an opportunity to save, recycle and know that they are going somewhere where they could be reused. Thank you very much. Firmly believe that we are the Earth, and that Ridwell is doing their little part so I can do my little part.

I’ve had the service for over a month now and no one has come to pick up my recycle. First month it was because they didn’t have a driver to do it and second month the person actually said they couldn’t find my recycle. They found my house to put the bin out but somehow they missed the large Orange bag on my front steps full of styrofoam. So I’ve missed out in two more opportunities to fill that orange bag with styrofoam. And my favorite is that they don’t answer your texts. I’ve emailed and texted and no one responds. I feel so duped by this company and I want my money back AFTER you pick up my recycling!

Ridwell is a fantastic way to more responsibly dispose of your waste. They’ve got a great model and high transparency about where your stuff ends up. The app is easy to use and well organized. Their help/support is excellent whether you contact them through the app, website, email, or phone. All around highly recommend!

Ridwell is such an amazing service!!! It doesn’t break the bank and you really make a difference in reducing your waste that goes to the landfill. I love the rotating “Featured Item” and how they partner with your local charities/organizations to help those in need or repurpose/upcycle items. You’ll feel great knowing you’ve made a positive impact on the environment and helped your community. Bravo Ridwell for all you do!

I’m frustrated with the “other” categories. I don’t have any trouble getting rid of denim, candy, clothes, decor etc. What I liked about your service was being able to get rid of things like metal coated bags and things that end up in my garbage because there’s no where to take it. You haven’t taken pet food bags in a long time! I store things up kinda waiting for it to come up again but often ends up in the garbage again😕

Ridwell helps remind me to review items that we don't use or don't need anymore -- there are SO many times I have saved something hoping to find another use for it - then it just takes up space! Ridwell has helped us reduce our waste that goes to landfills AND help local businesses in reusing materials!!! SO awesome! I hoghly recommend Ridwell!

I am very grateful for what you are doing to keep stuff out of the landfill . You were also helpful to me in getting rid of some things that I no longer needed. I don’t have anything for the coming 3-4 featured categories so will take a break from pick-ups and perhaps start again at a later date if that’s ok. Constance

I have been using Ridwell for over a year. The people they have to pickup your recycling are literally HORRIBLE. They’re not friendly, they slam and swear, I have cameras. One guy pulled up, looked around and took off.. he didn’t even pickup the recycling. The drivers must not get the pickup orders because they miss bags that are listed as add-ons sitting right next to all of the other pickup items! I’m on the fence about canceling simply because their staff is incompetent.

Could you include an advanced scheduling feature that allows for futher out scheduling. I was out of town the week of my pickup and I wanted to coordinate a before I left. There was no option to do so on the mobile website. Would be great to see as an option in the near future.

I try to be thoughtful in decreasing the use of plastic, but it is so so hard. It seems like everything has some form plastic attached to it. I am trying so hard to cut back & paying more for items that have used recycled plastic. Thank you for doing the hard work of helping me to make this planet of ours survive.

I enjoy feeling like I’ve made a small difference when it comes to hard to recycle plastic! Not only has it reduced the waste in my weekly garbage but it is also fun for me to sort through trash and see all the things I don’t have to send straight to the landfill. Thank you to Ridwell and local partners!

The reason we have to cancel your service is our city implemented a mandatory charge for Organics collection, although we are composing in our backyard, we will still be charged. This became too expensive as we don’t usually have a lot of plastic for bi weekly pick up. If in the future you consider monthly plan pick up, we hope to resume.

At first, I didn't want another app, but now I find that the Ridwell app is a very great way to keep track of my pick ups. I wanted to make sure that I added everything I wanted to be picked up in time for their arrival to take my stuff today. And it worked! Everything was very clear.

I am happy with your service, but there was no way to change the EXTRA ITEMS category (winter warmth) this week. I hope you have not eliminated the “changeability” of this feature.

I've belonged for some time now and it just makes Mother Earth smile, I know it does. Less recycle-able plastic AND other stuff! Thanks Ridwell! I appreciate how easy AND flexible the program is.... Gotta go now and finish loading up my featured items for this next pick-up ✅

This service is worthy for those of us concerned about excessive waste in our country. You don’t have to participate in this service for a long to figure out how much waste is out there and being brought into our homes, as well. Thank you Ridwell!

It’s nearly impossible to avoid some plastic without a dedicated lifestyle. Ridwell is the solution. I can’t recommend this service highly enough. I have only one complaint, that Ridwell isn’t nationwide. I’m moving across the country, and I’m very bummed that there will be no Ridwell.

I’ve only had one pick up from Ridwell but I feel great about it! In 2 weeks I was able to save 6 pounds of recyclables on the Plastics program. The City of Olympia has such minimal recycling and I hated throwing out all the plastic #1 PET/PETE clam shells. We now have the smallest garbage can and feel better about recycling the plastics. Yay for Ridwell!

I’m a long tome Ridwell customer and opt into pickups from e-mail…. But sometimes I don’t know what the next featured category is, or even when the next pickup us . Love that this app sends push notifications to opt in and always tells me what’s coming next. One less thing to worry about!

After many months of seeing those ridwell boxes on neighbors porches, we dove in and have loved it. Scheduling pickups through the app is very easy and I love the bags they give for each category and that the bags are swapped out at every pickup so they’re always clean and dry.

i love the idea of recycling those plastics bags that would otherwise just end up in the landfill. However, it is pretty steep for me to have to pay for it. I wish it was half the price and had a drop off option rather than having someone driving around town!

This is one of the nicest apps for a subscription service I’ve used! It works as expected, the notifications are actually helpful and not spammy, and the app is chock full of useful info without kicking you out to the web site. Well done!

We appreciate all your efforts responsibly recycle cell phone & old electronic devices. And zip lock bags, shoes that were not in good enough condition to donate, batteries & light bulbs. 💯great job on all the information, I special bags & metal container for the porch. I even got a nice message from their support. Thanks for expanding to Snohomish!!

An easy way to do your part to help reduce waste. I love the categories they offer, but just wish there were consistent offerings of Multilayer plastic bags. It’s motivating and I was able to reduce my garbage pickup to monthly because there’s basically nothing in it!

We really like having the ability to recycle so many things thru Ridwell that you would usually just throw away. It’s helps me declutter and not feel bad about getting rid of things. So many things can be recycled, it’s amazing!

Just had my 4th Ridwell pick-up. Special pick up category was personal devices. we had the chance to recycle a large bag of items which had been cluttering up shelves, drawers, and cabinets. Great to know that you’ll either be put to good use or recycle properly!

But I don’t understand why I need a Slack account??? I’m happy using the Ridwell app on my iPad. I was thrilled that "wearable bras" was the category for this pickup! I recently has a mastectomy, and I'm glad to have a way to pass along several bras so that someone else can use them.

So excited to have an app now for Ridwell! Love seeing how many pounds of trash I’ve kept out of landfills, reference what is included in core categories and what featured categories are coming up so I can plan - ALL IN ONE PLACE! Thanks Ridwell for making it even easier to take care of our planet :)

We are loving it! I am recycling batteries and lightbulbs and tons of plastic bags. We are donating clothes. The kids are helping and learning about all the many things that can be recycled and donated. And the pickup is twice a month! So convenient! I’m so grateful for this service!