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Welcome.
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Welcome to Starting Through Life with Colleen Watterston on AM950, the Progressive Voice of Minnesota.
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This is Colleen Watterston.
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And I am the owner of Space by Space Organizing here in Twin Cities.
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And I have this show to try to talk about things that come up with the organizing process.
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And a lot of what comes up with the organizing process is a lot of things that leave the house.
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And with that, it's about our consumption, it's about what we what is waste, what can be donated, what can be resold.
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And within that waste community, there's waste, there's recycling, there's uh there's Ridwell.
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And so today I am so happy to have Jens Narvison, the operations manager of Ridwell Twin Cities.
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So welcome, Jens.
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Thank you.
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And so if anybody has driven around where in the Twin Cities, how far reaching can you see these white boxes with a little logo?
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We are all over the Twin Cities area.
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So we go as far north as Champlain.
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We go as far south down into Lakeville.
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Heading west, we head out into Excelsior area, and heading east, we head out to about Woodbury is about the range of our market.
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And there are these white metal boxes that sit outside someone's door, like an old-fashioned milk box.
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Yeah, kind of like that.
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Yeah.
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But instead of bringing in the milk and eggs, you're bringing out Recycling.
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Recycling.
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Recycling that doesn't have a next home within the traditional recycling process.
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Right.
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So where Redwell comes in is we really try to fill the niche areas that are materials that are common household items that your standard curbside recycling can't handle for various reasons.
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Either because it could be hazardous, like lithium batteries, those are a constant problem for traditional waste and recycling haulers.
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Or it could be things like uh plastic film that we take in, like your grocery bags, Amazon packages.
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It gums up the machinery, causes issues for them.
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We really try not to duplicate services of what's already being covered.
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That is great.
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Um I'm gonna out myself here, Jens.
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Um I am not the most well-versed in trash and recycling.
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And I will continue to out myself as home organizing and the days that I'm on a client clock and I'm in their home and I'm trying to help them get rid of things, it's not the most environmentally friendly day.
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Yeah, and I think a lot of people are in and can understand uh those moments.
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You're trying to clear through things, and it's like, yeah, well, what is the best way to get rid of these items?
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Um, you know, whether it's, you know, is it something you throw out, or if you're trying to uh dispose of it responsibly, it's where do you have to drive?
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How far do you have to drive?
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Oh, now I have to load this into my car.
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Oh, I'm going so far for just one item.
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I will say I am that person for people though.
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So if it is a hazardous waste, if it is something I but I've had a client's helium tank in my garage for a year once.
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Because I was like, of course, you know, I try to take so in the organizing process, I'll take I the client cares most about what's left behind, what's in the house and how it's the system that it's within the house and how I've made it so that they I always say like I earn my keep when you don't need to go buy new batteries.
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You know, I I make it so that you can shop your own home so that you have a proper inventory of what you own.
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But along the way, we identify a lot of excess and a lot of waste.
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And so like a batteries, and I know we're gonna get into topic specific of what you guys collect, but a lot of people's batteries end up in the bottom of a drawer or in the bottom of a bin, and you don't know where your batteries are.
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And so because they're not that expensive, it's one of those items that you just add to cart.
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It would take maybe five minutes to find, but 30 seconds to have Amazon bring you new ones or Target pull aside new ones for you.
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And it's more worth the quick add to cart than it is to take that five minutes to find those batteries.
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Because then also on the way to finding the batteries, you might get annoyed with yourself because they're in a junk drawer that you don't want to deal with.
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But by the time I find a lot of batteries, they're crusty, you know, and they're they haven't been used and they're no longer usable.
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And so I think this that what I'm learning from you and what I hope people take away by the end of our episode, and we'll even get there more, but it's like the conscious consumerism, and then also the conscious consumerism often I feel refers to what you're taking in and what materials and and the different purchasing habits, but also being a consumer, how do you consciously dispose of what you have consumed?
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And I think that's where you, you guys at Ridwell are really trying to create you know, a great network of not just yourself as the collectors, but all these distribution partners and these redistribution partners that can help make something not that could not be trash, not be trash.
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Because I once had someone tell me, um, you know, my wife worries that if we declutter, uh we're just gonna everything's just gonna end up in a landfill.
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And he said, Well, I'm worried that our house is becoming the landfill.
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And so there's that like, you know, there's that very real what do we do with this?
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And we kind of know that we're creating an environmental impact, but but I don't want to burden the environment, but I'm burdening myself in the process.
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So the origin story of Ridwell kind of comes from that dilemma.
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Uh a little bit, but it's also a little bit more um actually more kind of cute in a way.
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Uh so the origin story uh uh of Ridwell is um our CEO Ryan and his son Owen uh started this out in Seattle, um, and that it was his son that kind of noticed, like, hey dad, we there's not a great place to recycle batteries, and just everyone has them.
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What can we do better about that?
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You know, the things that come from the mouths of children, right?
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And it really started there.
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It started uh collecting batteries and light bulbs from neighbors, uh kind of growing uh around the neighborhood, and it grew from something they were doing in their garage to their basement to a storage unit to now uh what we now know today as Ridwell.
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Um originally it started as Owens List when we started off, but rebranding down the road as happens with companies.
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Um and now we're in eight major metros, which is really exciting.
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We have over 100,000 members nationwide.
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Uh we also have our mail-in program.
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So if you're not in one of our uh bin service areas and one of the metros we're in, you can mail us your plastics, your wine corks, um pill bottles, which is really fun too.
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Um just to be able to expand that access to people.
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Um I mean, we understand kind of uh your point earlier that we should be better about uh more conscious about what we're buying, how we're using it.
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Um and certainly when it comes to disposal, I think it's important to try to be conscious about it of how we dispose of things, where we can recycle them.
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But we also I think it's important to give ourselves a little bit of grace on it.
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Um, because it is hard to, you know, most people are in the position to drive around to how many different places to recycle things.
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Um and just it is the availability.
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It's hard to find places out there to recycle these materials.
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Um and unfortunately, yeah, every material isn't recyclable, even though we would think it might be like one of the items I get questions about often that I have yet to hear of a great source of uh is 3D printer um plastic.
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Okay.
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If there's a place to recycle that, I have I have yet to find one.
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Our partnerships team has yet to find one.
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Um and so unfortunately, yeah, there are some places we we just haven't figured out how to recycle it yet, but we should always try to make the effort if we can uh to try to recycle things responsibly.
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And okay, so I have two thoughts wish cycling and textiles.
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Um I am uh a resident of Bloomington, Minnesota, and I am a very proud.
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I think are we Bloomingtonians?
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I don't know, but I'm very proud to live in Bloomington.
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I love it, and it's a beautiful uh place to call home.
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And we get this Bloomington briefing, and I love looking through our Bloomington briefing and all of my, you know, neighbors and fellow Bloomingtonians uh who are active in the community, and we have a very good like water filtration, like we've got really good water, and we've got we've got a pretty good, I think pretty good recycling and you know all that program, but they'll break things down for us visually and things and um you know explain a lot so that you can understand why you pay for this and what you can do with that and our curbside um, you know, big item program.
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And uh we partner with Better Futures for more regular pickups.
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But they had something in there that was like wish cycling.
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And I just thought that was so clever, but it is like please don't throw these things that you wish could be recycled away in the recycling bin because it makes it harder for us.
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But it's like I think a lot of people think after it goes in that bin, not my problem.
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Like I took it to the curb, I was I I'm good.
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And it's that that you know, the Bloomington briefing kind of was like, you're not, you know, and so like I know pizza boxes can't go in.
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I never knew that.
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It's cardboard, but I'm guessing it it's because of like the grease.
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It's the grease on it that that makes it unrecyclable.
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It's it's uh food contamination essentially on it.
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We we run to the same thing with styrofoam.
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Um it's one of the materials that we can take.
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It's one of our highest levels of material with contamination, though, when it comes in, uh, that we end up not being able to recycle it is because of food contamination on it.
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Okay.
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Um, you know, we are the only unfortunately in our area uh there is only one processor for styrofoam uh within like 400 miles.
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And it's actually Coon Rapids Recycling.
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Uh Colleen up there that runs that organization does a phenomenal job up there.
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Um Colleens are good people.
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Yeah.
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They are wonderful people.
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So phenomenal.
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Yeah, never met a bad one.
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No.
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So they're our partner for styrofoam, and uh and just with their partnerships and what they can take downstream, we can only take the hard white styrofoam that snaps.
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We're not able to take the flexible foam material.
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We're not able to take anything with color.
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Um people still try to give it to us, hoping that we can recycle wish cycling, which you know, Redwell, we fall into that category.
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Yeah, it's wish cycling.
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You make wishes come true.
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We we really do try.
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We really do try.
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And and every material we, you know, we try to find a home for it.
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Yeah.
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Um but unfortunately, yeah, we we too run into that issue of hey, just unfortunately, we we're not able to recycle this just with the limitations that we have.
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Um if someone out there develops a better process or ways that we can bring it on.
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Bring it on, please too.
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Well, and that's where I think, you know, and I I out myself as such a novice because, you know, I know what bin to put on your shelf, and I can probably speak to most of what we use as an organizing product, but there are so many people whose entire careers have been dedicated to this industry and they've been in it for decades.
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So in preparation for this episode, I was like, oh, I could find statistics.
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I'm like, they could be wrong.
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I don't know because I don't have the context within the industry to situate myself as anything close to knowing, but I'm learning.
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And I think um what's exciting is the idea that we do have all of this energy toward more conscious consumerism, and it's a little demand-driven because we want a climate that's not as changing and we want, you know, uh a more sustainable environment.
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Uh and so then we have the demand to create solutions to do more with our waste.
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But like there was an article or a news story on MPR about a professor who's begun to develop a um textile recycling thing up there, a machine up there.
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And the amount of texts that I got from friends saying, Have you heard about that?
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Because they know I'm in the recipient of many textiles that need to go to a next home through the decluttering process.
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And we were at so Ridwell and Space by Space are both members of Reuse Minnesota.
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Emily Barker has been on the show.
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Uh I emailed her and got some resources, and Emily's email just reminded me how little I know because there are so many people who know so much, and how lucky are we to have Reuse Minnesota and a lot of people in our community who are doing great things.
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But last week we were at the Reuse Minnesota member meeting, and that uh I think this professors out of Duluth and one of our Duluth members was like it is just still a prototype.
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Like it is a very exciting prototype, but all of a sudden people hear this MPR program and they want to send their palettes to this woman, and it's like, oh, we're doing like a sweater right now.
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You know, like we're figuring out how to, you know, unweave, reweave, or, you know, something.
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So it's like I think the more that we talk about it and the more that we bring the resources together so that people can, you know, expand on the technologies together and figure out what's working and put funding around what's working so that we can keep expanding these next use uh uh things.
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And that that's what um you know we're gonna get into of what you guys take and what happens next in our next segment.
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But I think that people kind of uh think, oh great, there's a solution.
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And it's like uh we still need to do a lot to scale that solution.
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It's the scaling of it, and again, uh it's one of those things like you know, you kind of mentioned you're you're you're learning new things every day.
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You're you're reading about this.
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I I think a lot of us are in that boat.
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There's a lot of new things coming out.
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Um and realistically, we didn't get in this position overnight when it comes to the amount of waste that we have out there, how we've built these industries around these materials that aren't great for our environment.
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They're not gonna be solved overnight.
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And that's where it's like, again, kind of said earlier grace is a great word that I, you know, I I think we can, you know, can be pulled out of that religious context, but also what we need to just show each other of, you know, hey, we realize it's a problem.
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We just got to give each other time to figure out how to best solve it.
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It's not gonna be solved overnight.
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These new technologies are out there, they're gonna take time to develop.
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Um I also certainly doesn't have uh I don't think it helps that as a country, we're a little bit further behind maybe than other countries in terms of our recycling programs and really trying to get ahead of that curb.
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Um 12 years ago, I traveled 12 or 13.
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I was traveling and I was in Belgium at a train station and they had two things that were notable.
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They had uh translucent recycling bags in, you know, being held by like a metal rim in in a recycling thing, and they were four different colors of translucent bags.
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And so it's like if you're gonna throw the bottle in the paper, that's kind of on you know, and you can other people can publicly watch you throw it in the wrong recycling bin.
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So it's like they're pre-sorting, but they're making it not just, you know, a lot of our recycling and trash bins are opaque.
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You can't see through them.
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So you can't see if I throw a bottle in the trash.
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No one likes to see their garbage.
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Right, right.
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It no one likes to see their, you know, that word, uh SH, you know, like shh, uh no one likes it, you know, like let's be quiet about our shit.
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No one likes to see that stuff.
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And it's like, oh, out of sight, out of mind.
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But it was like it was actually a beautifully done way to better sort, better pre-sort, and better encourage people to publicly do that.
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And then unrelated but still cool, there was a charging station for your phone that was connected to a stationary bike.
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And so it was like encouraging exercise while you waited for the train.
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And you could get your phone charged if you biked for it.
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And I just thought, brilliant.
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It's a way to get people moving.
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And it was sponsored, probably.
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I I'm sure I have a picture of it.
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I'm sure like some tech mobile company sponsored that little bike.
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And so it worked out for them to get their phones charged.
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But it was so clever, and it's that what I have not seen that in the U.S.
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since, and that was over a decade ago.
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Aaron Ross Powell We don't quite have the infrastructure uh like some of those other countries do, or at least at least have we haven't put in the investment to get to that point.
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And it's also just a cultural change, too.
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And trying to change culture in America, that's a that's a larger question outside this one.
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Trevor Burrus, Jr.
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Wait, wait.
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We don't have enough minutes for that.
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Trevor Burrus, Jr.
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No, but you know, it's certainly, hey, we just got to take small steps.
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And you know, that's where Redwell, we're we're trying to be a piece of that puzzle to try to help figure these things out.
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Aaron Powell Well, and I'll be a piece of the puzzle by giving you some more space to talk about this.
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So let's take a quick break and come back and talk about Ridwell and all of these little small steps toward solving all the world's problems.
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All right, welcome back to sorting through life with Kolly and Waterstan on AM950.
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Today we are sorting through recycling and non-recycling and trash with Jens Narvison of Ridwell.
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And so, Jens, you run the operations of Ridwell here in the Twin Cities.
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And so congratulations, you just hit a huge mile of mile marker of over 10,000 subscribers.
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So people that have that Ridwell uh been outside their door.
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Yep, so over 10,000 members in the Twin Cities Metro alone.
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Um we have far other markets that are bigger, bigger than ours, but it's a huge milestone for ours for sure.
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Yes, that that's great.
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And a huge milestone for the Twin Cities for uh having 10,000, over 10,000 people who value this.
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And so it's a monthly subscription.
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It's a monthly subscription.
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It's about$20 a month.
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Okay.
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Um how it works is that we provide you a bin.
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It's a metal bin, the white metal bins you see all around town.
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And we give you uh cloth bags for all the categories that we use, um, besides for two of them.
00:19:09.839 --> 00:19:10.720
We'll get into those.
00:19:10.960 --> 00:19:11.200
Okay.
00:19:11.440 --> 00:19:13.759
Um the first one is plastic film.
00:19:13.839 --> 00:19:15.920
Uh let's just start going through.
00:19:16.160 --> 00:19:16.319
Yeah.
00:19:16.799 --> 00:19:18.559
So how do you want to dive into this one?
00:19:18.960 --> 00:19:19.680
Okay, yeah.
00:19:19.920 --> 00:19:24.160
Because so Redwell takes certain specific items.
00:19:24.400 --> 00:19:24.480
Right.
00:19:24.799 --> 00:19:30.079
And I think let's just go through those items and give them each their moment, um, or a few.
00:19:30.720 --> 00:19:32.480
Okay, so plastics.
00:19:33.359 --> 00:19:34.079
So plastics.
00:19:34.559 --> 00:19:35.839
And multi-layer plastics.
00:19:36.000 --> 00:19:37.759
Talk to me about plastics in general.
00:19:37.839 --> 00:19:40.319
Aaron Powell Plastics in general would say a great place to start.
00:19:40.799 --> 00:19:41.119
So good.
00:19:41.440 --> 00:19:42.799
Because it's all over the place, right?
00:19:42.960 --> 00:19:45.200
Um so we have a couple different ways we take plastics.
00:19:45.359 --> 00:19:47.839
Our first is our plastic film category.
00:19:48.000 --> 00:19:52.960
Uh so plastic film for us is materials that you can really take and push your thumb through.
00:19:53.200 --> 00:20:02.799
So it's your grocery bags, Amazon packaging, uh, there's some shrink wrap material that that falls under that, ziplock bags, those pretty common plastics.
00:20:03.279 --> 00:20:03.759
Bubble wrap.
00:20:04.079 --> 00:20:05.279
Bubble wrap would fall under that.
00:20:05.359 --> 00:20:06.160
That's another good example.
00:20:06.799 --> 00:20:08.400
Big bubble stuff that comes from Amazon.
00:20:08.720 --> 00:20:10.960
Yep, big bubble, little bubble wrap, that's totally fine.
00:20:11.119 --> 00:20:12.880
Those big pillows that they throw in there.
00:20:12.960 --> 00:20:13.039
Yeah.
00:20:13.200 --> 00:20:16.319
If you can pop them before you throw them in there, it's going to save you a lot of room.
00:20:16.480 --> 00:20:18.319
Um bring you joy.
00:20:18.720 --> 00:20:19.519
And bring you joy.
00:20:19.680 --> 00:20:21.759
There is something satisfying about popping bubbles.
00:20:22.160 --> 00:20:25.920
These new ones aren't as satisfying as the bubbles that always came in our childhood.
00:20:26.240 --> 00:20:26.720
True, extreme.
00:20:26.880 --> 00:20:31.279
I remember fighting with my siblings over who gets to pop the bubble wrap.
00:20:31.680 --> 00:20:37.599
Yeah, I I love bringing uh some of that to uh I have a I have a young niece that enjoys you know busting the bubbles.
00:20:37.680 --> 00:20:40.880
It's always just kind of fun to bring us a whole stack to just hear have fun with the ghetto.
00:20:41.200 --> 00:20:45.920
It's always like the kids, you get them this fancy thing for Christmas and they just want the cardboard box.
00:20:47.119 --> 00:20:47.680
It's so true.
00:20:48.079 --> 00:20:50.480
Uncle Jen's brought bubble wrap again.
00:20:52.480 --> 00:20:53.440
I haven't brought in a while.
00:20:53.519 --> 00:20:55.359
I might have to bring some over this weekend.
00:20:55.599 --> 00:21:00.400
Um but the plastic film, uh so those are the type materials you think of.
00:21:00.640 --> 00:21:10.319
Um you know, with that material, we get it uh we sent to a company called Trex, uh, and they turn it into that low maintenance decking material that is out there.
00:21:10.400 --> 00:21:13.200
So that's kind of the cool material that's made from that.
00:21:13.440 --> 00:21:17.759
Um the other plastic category we have is multilayer plastics.
00:21:17.839 --> 00:21:24.000
Um, this is the one that kind of surprises people, but it's uh those items that it's really a lot of food packaging.
00:21:24.160 --> 00:21:33.440
So it's your granola bar wrappers, ramen packets, uh, your coffee bags, the food netting around uh like oranges and apples that you can get.
00:21:34.079 --> 00:21:34.640
Oh, interesting.
00:21:34.960 --> 00:21:35.839
That counts as that.
00:21:36.000 --> 00:21:38.480
Because I suppose you can't rip it with your finger.
00:21:39.200 --> 00:21:40.880
You can put your finger through the netting.
00:21:41.440 --> 00:21:42.319
What do you do with it?
00:21:42.720 --> 00:21:42.880
Right.
00:21:43.039 --> 00:21:44.319
So it's that type of material.
00:21:44.400 --> 00:21:48.960
It's your dog food bags, those heavier, just multiple layers of plastic.
00:21:49.359 --> 00:21:50.160
That's plastic?
00:21:50.400 --> 00:21:50.640
Mm-hmm.
00:21:50.799 --> 00:21:51.519
That is plastic.
00:21:51.680 --> 00:21:54.960
A lot of them, you know, some most of them don't have a paper on the inside.
00:21:55.200 --> 00:21:56.640
Sure, there are some bags that are like that.
00:21:56.960 --> 00:21:58.240
But a lot it's actually a plastic.
00:21:58.640 --> 00:21:59.440
And you can't rip it.
00:22:01.119 --> 00:22:01.599
I've tried.
00:22:01.920 --> 00:22:03.680
No, those are really durable bags.
00:22:03.839 --> 00:22:04.000
Yeah.
00:22:04.640 --> 00:22:11.200
So those plastics, along with the pill bottles, we collect under our featured category.
00:22:11.599 --> 00:22:14.880
Those our market sends to a company called Hydro Blocks.
00:22:15.200 --> 00:22:20.079
They're a really cool company that they take those plastics and turn them into water diversion tiles.
00:22:20.160 --> 00:22:30.640
So say you have a spot in your yard, a farm field that for whatever reason just pooling water whenever it rains, they can bury those tiles and that will move that water away from it.
00:22:31.119 --> 00:22:32.960
I don't have the number right in front of me.
00:22:33.039 --> 00:22:36.640
I know when I first heard about it, there was a concern of like, oh, microplastics.
00:22:36.720 --> 00:22:40.000
That's been the big concern in the Twin Cities stuff with 3M.
00:22:40.240 --> 00:22:41.680
They've done the testing on it.
00:22:41.759 --> 00:22:45.839
It is well below any sort of level that they would worry about leaching into the system.
00:22:46.240 --> 00:22:46.400
Okay.
00:22:46.720 --> 00:22:51.039
So the important thing just being, hey, conscious about what that material is being turned into.
00:22:51.839 --> 00:22:57.680
And Emily Barker did send me some links to look into uh before the show, which was really helpful.
00:22:57.759 --> 00:23:02.480
And and Reuse Minnesota is such a good resource in the Minnesota in Twin Cities.
00:23:02.559 --> 00:23:11.920
And you know, they'll you email them, you become a you can be an individual member, but um you know, they just know so much and they have access to so many people who know so much.
00:23:12.160 --> 00:23:24.559
So um it was like then I was looking and you know the Chamber of Commerce, uh Minnesota Chamber, they've had something about recycled plastics and turning it into you know new materials.
00:23:25.200 --> 00:23:31.440
But this is like, you know, they have this thing, and and this is terrible that I have paper that I printed.
00:23:31.519 --> 00:23:40.640
I I was like, Jens, I'm a horrible person, but they have some film plastics coming from like plastic milk drugs being turned into new things.
00:23:40.880 --> 00:23:48.319
But what you're saying about these plastics, because we know that plastic bags can't go in the recycling.
00:23:49.359 --> 00:24:06.640
Like because they so the difference between Redwell and one of these bigger recycling places where you know recycling has all sorts of next use after the sort, they sell different, you know, materials as raw materials for different products.
00:24:07.119 --> 00:24:11.839
But you were telling me that the sorting is such a different process, it's a different thing.
00:24:12.000 --> 00:24:13.759
And that's why they can't take what you take.
00:24:14.160 --> 00:24:14.319
Right.
00:24:14.559 --> 00:24:15.839
It's a very different process.
00:24:16.000 --> 00:24:29.599
Um and I do want to highlight, too, um, for people listening to, if you want to dig further into some of the companies I've talked about, one of the ways we are different, per se, maybe than uh one of these larger city haulers is uh is our transparency level.
00:24:29.759 --> 00:24:36.319
You can go on our website and look at every company that we partner with, see where the material is going, see our diversion rates.
00:24:36.400 --> 00:24:38.480
We're very transparent about that.
00:24:38.640 --> 00:24:41.839
Um so encourage people, hey, take a look, check us out.
00:24:42.079 --> 00:24:50.880
Um But those larger haulers, um, whether you think of like Republic Waste Management, uh, they bring their materials back to what are called MRFs.
00:24:50.960 --> 00:24:52.640
Um, and these are very large.
00:24:52.720 --> 00:24:54.160
You really got to think of them as factories.
00:24:54.480 --> 00:24:55.519
I mean they're they're giant.
00:24:56.319 --> 00:24:57.039
MRF.
00:24:57.440 --> 00:25:02.960
Material recovery facilities are MRFs and they are pronounced MERFs.
00:25:03.200 --> 00:25:03.440
Murph.
00:25:03.680 --> 00:25:07.039
I wouldn't have come up with that, and that Emily helped me to know that.
00:25:07.200 --> 00:25:10.000
MRFs, material recycling facilities, MRFs.
00:25:10.480 --> 00:25:12.240
You can put that on your trivia card.
00:25:12.559 --> 00:25:13.119
You're welcome.
00:25:13.359 --> 00:25:14.400
It's a good acronym to know.
00:25:14.559 --> 00:25:14.640
Yeah.
00:25:14.960 --> 00:25:18.799
And and they they really do an incredible job when we think about it.
00:25:18.960 --> 00:25:29.359
Um they are taking, you know, I look at I have only 10,000 members in the Metro, where we have, you know, hundreds of thousands, if not probably close that million mark when you get into the suburbs.
00:25:29.599 --> 00:25:31.279
They're collecting all that material.
00:25:31.440 --> 00:25:33.359
They have to machine sort it.
00:25:33.519 --> 00:25:42.000
Uh, you know, sure there's probably some human sorting that goes in there at different points, but a lot of it is cameras, it's sensors that are trying to read and sort through that material.
00:25:42.240 --> 00:25:48.880
Where Ridwell is different is that all the material that comes into our facility is sorted by hand.
00:25:49.200 --> 00:25:57.839
Um I have a wonderful warehouse team that sorts through every material they touch every little bit to make sure it's being you know sorted to the right place.
00:25:58.079 --> 00:26:01.119
We're not sending, you know, dirty material to our partners downstream.
00:26:01.279 --> 00:26:02.880
So it's a very different process.
00:26:03.039 --> 00:26:09.519
Um but I can put pictures in because we got to go to the Reuse Minnesota uh member tour.
00:26:09.839 --> 00:26:17.839
We got to go to your facility and see your mountain of styrofoam and your mountain of pill bottles and your mountain of textiles, and it was like, whoa.
00:26:18.319 --> 00:26:18.960
It's a lot of stuff.
00:26:19.279 --> 00:26:22.240
And the people who are behind the sorting.
00:26:22.640 --> 00:26:27.039
So they're sorting all those things, and it's because of all those materials you can't sort by machine.
00:26:27.200 --> 00:26:33.119
Uh when you think of like the plastic films, your those multi-air plastics, those are just going to gum up those machines.
00:26:33.279 --> 00:26:39.359
It's you know, I think if there is a way that these Murphs could sort that material, sure they take advantage of it.
00:26:39.519 --> 00:26:42.960
But with just the volume, uh it's an impossible ask, really.
00:26:43.440 --> 00:26:49.599
Well, not just sorting through them, but that's something that gets, you know, it it's designed to hold something.
00:26:50.160 --> 00:26:57.839
So it's likely going to catch the thing inside of it, and now you have a milk jug in a plastic bag versus just a milk jug and a plastic bag.
00:26:57.920 --> 00:26:59.279
Aaron Powell You can have stuff like that.
00:26:59.519 --> 00:27:01.920
It just brings into a variety of issues.
00:27:02.559 --> 00:27:08.640
Um and certainly it'd be hard for them to sort out textiles that people throw in there or other type materials.
00:27:08.880 --> 00:27:10.559
Um that's where it is really different.
00:27:10.640 --> 00:27:11.759
Everything is hand sorted.
00:27:11.920 --> 00:27:13.519
Aaron Powell Let's talk about textiles.
00:27:14.240 --> 00:27:18.240
So textiles, uh we have two different lines of textiles.
00:27:18.480 --> 00:27:21.119
Um two different plastics, two different textiles.
00:27:21.519 --> 00:27:24.640
Two different textiles, and we still got a couple other categories to go.
00:27:24.880 --> 00:27:28.240
Uh so we have first, are we wearable textiles?
00:27:28.400 --> 00:27:36.160
Um we we started actually with recyclable only uh when we first kind of started out just because like, hey, that was a larger And that's that question.
00:27:36.319 --> 00:27:49.440
Like so many clients I go into have a bag that has, oh, that has rips, or that it's undonatable and but they don't want to throw it away because it's uh a textile.
00:27:49.759 --> 00:27:51.039
They know they they shouldn't.
00:27:51.359 --> 00:27:54.000
And so it's like, oh, this is my bag of where can I bring this?
00:27:54.319 --> 00:27:54.559
Right.
00:27:54.960 --> 00:27:55.680
Well, yep.
00:27:56.240 --> 00:27:57.440
We will certainly take it.
00:27:57.599 --> 00:28:05.759
So we have our rewearable line that is now, hey, it's clothes you give off to a friend, you'd give to a neighbor.
00:28:05.920 --> 00:28:13.759
Um we work with a company called Cycla for that one that will route that product to thrift stores so people aren't having to go drop their stuff off.
00:28:13.920 --> 00:28:25.039
I mean, it's part of uh our environmental impact is that instead of you know having you know driving 20 miles to drop off one item, our driver is already in your neighborhood coming and collecting.
00:28:25.119 --> 00:28:29.200
We'll we'll grab it and make sure it gets to a right source to for for that.
00:28:29.440 --> 00:28:34.240
Um so cycle will then send those clothes out to different thrift stores where they're where they're resold.
00:28:34.720 --> 00:28:43.920
Um if we they are more of an item that, hey, it's torn, it's ripped, we've got paint on it, you know, just really end-of-life clothing.
00:28:44.079 --> 00:28:46.720
That's where our recyclable threads come in.
00:28:46.880 --> 00:28:50.880
Um and that we actually uh send to a company called Vespean.
00:28:50.960 --> 00:28:53.440
They're actually down in uh Nevada.
00:28:53.680 --> 00:28:54.640
Nevada or Arizona?
00:28:54.799 --> 00:28:55.599
I want to say it's Nevada.
00:28:57.920 --> 00:28:58.720
Continental Southwest.
00:28:59.119 --> 00:29:00.720
Say Continental Southwest.
00:29:00.880 --> 00:29:06.319
Um and they take all those, uh take clothes uh that we get in that category.
00:29:06.400 --> 00:29:13.359
Uh they shred up and turn into the different types of fiber fill that can be used in things from punching bags, food insulation.
00:29:13.519 --> 00:29:16.799
Uh people don't often realize there's actually denim insulation out there.
00:29:16.880 --> 00:29:20.000
If they get a high enough concentration of it, they can turn it into that.
00:29:20.160 --> 00:29:27.599
Um, just a lot of different materials uh that you wouldn't normally otherwise uh think of come from that type uh of stuff.
00:29:27.759 --> 00:29:32.640
Um and it's a much better, you know, end-of-life use for it than just throwing it in a landfill.
00:29:32.720 --> 00:29:42.160
Um but it's certainly materials though too that you know your neighborhood goodwill, which often becomes kind of the the drop-off point for a lot of things people don't know what to do with.
00:29:42.480 --> 00:29:46.480
Um we can actually make sure it gets to a place where it's being reused in some way.
00:29:46.559 --> 00:29:50.000
Aaron Ross Powell We can just we both are not anti-goodwillers.
00:29:50.319 --> 00:29:54.240
You guys actually used Goodwill for a while, but there are a lot of anti-goodwillers.
00:29:54.480 --> 00:30:00.960
And my I I have dropped things off at Goodwill for as long as I can remember dropping things off.
00:30:01.279 --> 00:30:06.400
And I think a lot of home organizers drop their things off at Goodwill because it's between a client's house and theirs.
00:30:06.480 --> 00:30:08.000
There's probably a Goodwill.
00:30:08.319 --> 00:30:10.960
And they're open until six or eight, depending on the day.
00:30:11.119 --> 00:30:15.839
You know, and you you can still get rid of your stuff at it, it's very convenient too.
00:30:16.319 --> 00:30:31.200
I was taught a class in grad school at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs by Michael Worth Davis, who is a CEO of Goodwill, and I got to tour it, and that man is such a great guy, and I was so impressed with his leadership.
00:30:31.359 --> 00:30:42.400
And there's a lot of people who say, Oh, you know, the CEO makes too much money, or you know, they're running at this level, and and oh, I don't like how they distribute the vouchers or certain things.
00:30:42.799 --> 00:30:47.599
But it's like, first off, this is just my quick soapbox for a moment.
00:30:48.960 --> 00:30:51.920
Social sector, we call it the nonprofit sector.
00:30:52.640 --> 00:30:58.160
I do not like that so much because nonprofit, it's like everything takes money.
00:30:58.480 --> 00:31:03.759
And you know, just we're gonna talk about like there is a fee attached to Ridwell because this takes effort, this takes money.
00:31:03.920 --> 00:31:19.519
You know, I have a project management fee from my services that are like, I'm not gonna add up all the time that I'm shopping, that I'm everything I'm doing for you outside of the house, all the time I'm preparing, everything because commensurate on the time I'm in your house, this fee that I have is a 25% on top of what I do.
00:31:20.079 --> 00:31:26.079
It's going to be proportionate to what I do when I'm in your house, so that what I do in your when I'm in your house is really efficient.
00:31:26.480 --> 00:31:30.960
But then I'm not adding 10 additional hours you didn't realize I spent on your behalf.
00:31:31.599 --> 00:31:37.920
I'm just gonna add this little project management, but I deserve to have my time compensated for.
00:31:38.160 --> 00:31:42.240
And or you know, one of my my girls' time is compensated for.
00:31:42.400 --> 00:31:45.119
You know, you have drivers, there is gas, there's all this stuff.
00:31:45.440 --> 00:31:49.119
There is so much that goes into running a social sector business.
00:31:49.759 --> 00:31:56.000
And so there's now this like social business concept, like you guys are a profit-driven but social business.
00:31:56.400 --> 00:32:02.079
But I just wish we would stop thinking that anybody who wants to be in a career for good should make no money.
00:32:02.240 --> 00:32:02.400
Right.
00:32:02.960 --> 00:32:05.039
Or should live in poverty because they care.
00:32:05.440 --> 00:32:06.640
We we all have bills to pay.
00:32:06.720 --> 00:32:08.960
We all need to put food on our tables, you know.
00:32:09.039 --> 00:32:21.680
And we should encourage the smartest and brightest and most capable people to be solving our biggest problems and not just getting paid to sell us more stuff because the corporate sector is creating all these problems.
00:32:22.000 --> 00:32:22.319
Okay.
00:32:23.039 --> 00:32:23.440
Soapbox.
00:32:23.759 --> 00:32:27.200
And no, and it's a good it's no, it's it's a fine soapbox to be on my point.
00:32:27.279 --> 00:32:41.680
I mean, my original uh studies in college were mainly focused on nonprofits and nonprofit leadership is kind of my weird kind of educational background, and I I agree it should really be called more the social sector because you everyone needs to make money.
00:32:41.920 --> 00:32:44.160
Everyone has to again provide things.
00:32:44.400 --> 00:32:45.759
And goodwill like that too.
00:32:46.000 --> 00:32:57.279
Um but you saw, you were telling me about uh how much volume you were bringing to them and like where the excess volume goes, and there is stuff on that.
00:32:57.519 --> 00:33:08.559
But it's like if we're gonna treat Goodwill like an additional dumpster, then we have to let them do what they need to do with all of the stuff that we drop off that is too much.
00:33:08.880 --> 00:33:13.359
You know, and we feel real good driving through that little drive-thru, being like, oh, I donated it.
00:33:14.079 --> 00:33:15.519
Oh, I decluttered.
00:33:15.680 --> 00:33:18.640
And it's like you just imposed it on Goodwill.
00:33:19.039 --> 00:33:19.200
Right.
00:33:19.279 --> 00:33:25.279
It's it's again, it's that grace word of where it's like, hey, they're not no company I think is perfect.
00:33:25.519 --> 00:33:29.119
Like I think that is a horrible assumption to make.
00:33:29.599 --> 00:33:34.160
Um and they're certainly trying to do the best with what they can with the volume that they're getting.
00:33:34.640 --> 00:33:37.279
Um I mean, sure, are there ways they could maybe improve?
00:33:37.440 --> 00:33:37.599
Sure.
00:33:37.680 --> 00:33:39.359
I mean, people could argue with Redwell too.
00:33:39.759 --> 00:33:40.720
We can all improve.
00:33:40.880 --> 00:33:42.640
We're all trying to do what we can.
00:33:43.119 --> 00:33:44.960
I'm only perfect seven days out of the week.
00:33:45.359 --> 00:33:48.240
And so for us, like, yeah, we we were working with them for a bit.
00:33:48.319 --> 00:33:54.640
We found a a better partnership that more fed our, you know, met our transparency needs of where we need to get things to go.
00:33:54.799 --> 00:33:58.799
And I certainly wouldn't want to bash them because they do provide a wonderful community service.
00:33:58.960 --> 00:34:01.680
They give people jobs, they're a great kind of thrift outlet.
00:34:01.920 --> 00:34:03.839
I mean, I shop there on occasion.
00:34:04.160 --> 00:34:05.599
You know, I I love to go thrifting.
00:34:05.680 --> 00:34:05.839
Trevor Burrus, Jr.
00:34:05.920 --> 00:34:10.159
And I think if people have heard, oh, I think Ridwell just gives our close to Goodwill, but not anymore.
00:34:10.320 --> 00:34:10.400
No.
00:34:10.719 --> 00:34:12.000
On the record, not anymore.
00:34:12.159 --> 00:34:17.199
But also, it wasn't bad when it was, you know, and just like everybody's doing their best.
00:34:17.360 --> 00:34:18.239
Let's all, you know.
00:34:18.480 --> 00:34:24.639
I actually have a little poem I wrote, um, Little by Little, Space by Space, when it comes to organizing, give yourself grace.
00:34:24.960 --> 00:34:25.360
It's a good thing.
00:34:25.599 --> 00:34:28.800
So look at you just uh validating my grace.
00:34:29.119 --> 00:34:29.440
Okay.
00:34:29.840 --> 00:34:32.400
Um so textiles get dealt with.
00:34:32.559 --> 00:34:35.360
There's two other things, and then there's featured partners.
00:34:35.519 --> 00:34:39.599
We're gonna we're gonna put a pen just so that I know how much time we have left so that we can get into that.
00:34:39.760 --> 00:34:40.880
Because I think we can talk forever.
00:34:40.960 --> 00:34:43.199
So I need to have the proper countdown in front of me.
00:34:43.280 --> 00:35:02.000
Um so let's just take a quick, quick break, and we'll be right back sorting through life, sorting through all of our excess with Jen's uh of Ridgewell, all right.
00:35:02.159 --> 00:35:07.679
Welcome back to Sorting Through Life with Colleen Watterson on AM950, the progressive voice of Minnesota.
00:35:07.760 --> 00:35:21.119
And we are having a very progressive conversation here, um, which I just got an invitation to take Tiffany uh over to the warehouse and get some in-action footage of what this all looks like, where it what it entails.
00:35:21.199 --> 00:35:23.840
I think that'd be a super fun uh day.
00:35:23.920 --> 00:35:28.000
So we'll put that on the calendar for sure, and make a little video.
00:35:28.320 --> 00:35:31.360
Um can we ride around with a pickup person?
00:35:32.159 --> 00:35:33.679
You know, behind them?
00:35:34.079 --> 00:35:35.119
We could maybe work that out.
00:35:35.360 --> 00:35:35.760
I think we do.
00:35:36.079 --> 00:35:38.159
But I think it should I I think I should throw in there too.
00:35:38.320 --> 00:35:45.280
Like, I mean, I think I give a tour of my facility at least once a month to some different group or tour group or uh organization.
00:35:45.360 --> 00:35:46.960
I'm more than happy to do it for others.
00:35:47.039 --> 00:35:57.039
But I think I also want to encourage listeners too, like whether it's us at Ridwell or your local, you know, Murph recycling trash hauler, most of them offer tours and are more than happy to show you.
00:35:57.119 --> 00:36:04.880
And I think it's really important that people take the time to visualize what happens to your waste, what happens to your recycling when it leaves your door.
00:36:05.119 --> 00:36:09.360
Um I think it's people just they forget about it and it's out of sight, out of mind.
00:36:09.679 --> 00:36:10.800
Okay, Jens, you're ahead of me.
00:36:10.960 --> 00:36:13.679
Um batteries and light bulbs, then we can go there.
00:36:13.920 --> 00:36:19.679
Um with that call to action.
00:36:20.079 --> 00:36:26.880
Um yes, batteries, light bulbs, and featured featured partnerships.
00:36:27.119 --> 00:36:35.039
Um because but absolutely, and I think what this exposes us too is like, oh right, I didn't even think about that.
00:36:35.119 --> 00:36:38.480
Or I heard batteries could just go in the trash bin.
00:36:39.039 --> 00:36:40.480
So now I can just do that.
00:36:40.639 --> 00:36:43.679
You know, so hearing uh batteries and why.
00:36:43.840 --> 00:36:49.280
And then also I want you to speak to specialty batteries because I have heard that a battery can make a dumpster fire pretty quick.
00:36:49.679 --> 00:36:50.800
Yeah, they certainly can.
00:36:51.199 --> 00:36:52.239
Talk to me about batteries.
00:36:52.719 --> 00:36:55.119
So batteries that they're they're all around us.
00:36:55.360 --> 00:36:59.840
And you know, alkaline batteries are are certainly problematic in their own.
00:37:00.079 --> 00:37:02.079
Um but the real issue out there.
00:37:02.559 --> 00:37:09.039
That's like my AA, my triple A, my well, you can't even say that anymore because they're now AA, triple A lithium batteries.
00:37:09.280 --> 00:37:09.360
Oh.
00:37:09.679 --> 00:37:22.880
Um it's all down to the chemical composition of it, which is again one of those things why, you know, unless you're training some machine to sort it, all of our batteries would get in our hand sorted, uh, is because of the chemistry that can be in them.
00:37:23.440 --> 00:37:28.800
Um alkaline batteries are generally not as much of a worry of causing a spark, causing a fire.
00:37:28.960 --> 00:37:36.320
It's those lithium batteries that are out there, whether it's the little, you know, uh watch battery, hearing aid battery.
00:37:36.400 --> 00:37:40.480
Um I know the energizer AA, triple A is kind of the silver color.
00:37:40.559 --> 00:37:43.519
Um, but it's also things in our laptops and our tablets.
00:37:43.679 --> 00:37:49.760
Uh when they get really um when a lithium battery breaks down, it actually kind of inflates uh because the oxygen in there.
00:37:49.920 --> 00:37:56.800
Uh when it comes to electronics, people call them spicy pillows because that's what they're just a nasty looking pillow that's growing.
00:37:56.960 --> 00:38:18.480
Um so those we actually um in order to get them to our recycler, uh, the better battery network for our lithium battery collections, we actually have to uh pack it in essentially pelletized glass so that if there is a thermal reaction in there or if a battery has a thermal event in there, it will actually snuff out that fire.
00:38:18.559 --> 00:38:33.360
Um because if somebody puts like a bad battery, um, a battery um in the regular trash and it gets compressed wrong, or you know, something happens, like the whole truck could catch fire.
00:38:33.599 --> 00:38:34.159
It could catch fire.
00:38:34.320 --> 00:38:37.280
And and I've and I've seen this, and I think it's the story you're alluding to.
00:38:37.360 --> 00:38:42.079
Um before I worked for Ridwell, I worked in the audiovisual construction industry for a while.
00:38:42.239 --> 00:38:58.320
Um we were at a contractor's warehouse, was kind of the semicircle, and uh something caught fire in there that they're pretty sure was some sort of lithium battery, and they had to dump their entire load out into this parking lot uh because you know you don't want the truck catching on fire if you can avoid it.
00:38:58.480 --> 00:39:04.559
And essentially had to burn itself out, which is a lovely smell that no one can smell it just thinking of it.
00:39:06.079 --> 00:39:06.559
Not a good smell.
00:39:06.719 --> 00:39:07.440
And it's just a hazard.
00:39:07.519 --> 00:39:08.800
No, an astral burner.
00:39:09.119 --> 00:39:09.280
Right.
00:39:09.360 --> 00:39:17.280
It's like, you know, whether it's one of my drivers, your regular recycling trash haulers, it's a dangerous enough, hard enough job as it is.
00:39:17.440 --> 00:39:19.920
We don't need to make their lives more difficult.
00:39:20.079 --> 00:39:21.440
Um, but it's a hazard.
00:39:21.599 --> 00:39:27.519
Um, you know, it can be the small batteries, but it's really true, those big drill batteries, they're all lithium.
00:39:27.679 --> 00:39:31.039
Um, you know, again, your cell phones, it's they're they're a fire risk.
00:39:31.119 --> 00:39:31.280
Trevor Burrus, Jr.
00:39:31.360 --> 00:39:34.000
And those can go to the hazardous waste centers.
00:39:34.079 --> 00:39:36.880
So there's one in South Hennepin and Bloomington that I go to for that.
00:39:36.960 --> 00:39:51.840
There's a great facility in Roseville that collects all the things and has a great relationship with Repowered here in Minnesota that helps to take electronics that have second life and and they do a bunch with electronics recycling.
00:39:52.079 --> 00:40:12.960
Um there are places, but being able to have that consistent every other month, every other week pickup with you guys means instead of making those little bad decisions, battery decisions, they can say, okay, I'm gonna put in my Redwill bin, my Redwill bag within the bin, you know, and um be more responsible.
00:40:13.119 --> 00:40:14.400
Talk to me about light bulbs.
00:40:14.719 --> 00:40:20.800
So light bulbs we actually poke uh partner with a local company here in uh here in the metro called Clean Lights.
00:40:20.880 --> 00:40:27.199
Uh they take it, they they break down the different materials that are in there, whether it's glass, the metal, there's mercury vapors in some of those.
00:40:28.239 --> 00:40:32.159
It's not really nice materials that are inside a lot of uh fluorescent light bulbs.
00:40:32.320 --> 00:40:38.800
Um, but they break down those materials and able to sort it out into those raw kind of components so they can be reused.
00:40:39.199 --> 00:40:42.400
Um but we take any sort of light bulb you can think of.
00:40:42.639 --> 00:40:47.760
Incandescent, uh fluorescent, we do take the fluorescent light tubes, even the big eight-footers.
00:40:48.000 --> 00:40:54.480
Uh the tubes we do have an upcharge for just because of the risk of hauling them and just some of the disposal costs with them.
00:40:54.719 --> 00:40:57.119
But really, any sort of light bulb will take it.
00:40:58.400 --> 00:41:04.400
And that's that point that when people just want to be able to throw something away, there is a cost to it.
00:41:04.639 --> 00:41:11.360
You know, and if you aren't incurring it because you're doing it irresponsibly, someone else is or the environment is at large.
00:41:11.519 --> 00:41:17.039
You know, so it's just for people who say I don't want to have to pay for that, it's like, well, that's too bad.
00:41:17.119 --> 00:41:18.719
Trevor Burrus, Jr.: There's there's a cost somewhere.
00:41:18.880 --> 00:41:21.119
You can never avoid a cost.
00:41:21.360 --> 00:41:25.280
Um, and that's why it's got a question of like, hey, why do we have our subscription fees?
00:41:25.599 --> 00:41:26.960
Things cost money.
00:41:27.039 --> 00:41:32.000
Um, and it's uh the reality too of a lot of uh the recycled materials that are out there.
00:41:32.159 --> 00:41:34.239
People love the idea of recycling.
00:41:34.480 --> 00:41:38.159
Not everyone wants to pay for those materials once they're collected.
00:41:38.400 --> 00:41:45.199
Really, of the materials that I collect, there's maybe only one or two you can say, hey, we get a little income from disposing of.
00:41:45.679 --> 00:41:46.400
It's not much.
00:41:46.480 --> 00:41:53.519
Trevor Burrus, Jr.: But part of that transparency is like uh our operating costs are a lot more money than Trex pays us for your future deck.
00:41:53.599 --> 00:41:53.760
Trevor Burrus, Jr.
00:41:53.920 --> 00:41:54.400
Right, right.
00:41:54.559 --> 00:41:56.079
It's it is far higher than that.
00:41:56.159 --> 00:41:59.119
I mean, heck, we we we're all experiencing the gas prices right now.
00:41:59.199 --> 00:42:00.639
Aaron Powell Right, and you're a pickup service.
00:42:00.960 --> 00:42:02.400
Oh yeah, throw throw that in there.
00:42:02.639 --> 00:42:06.800
Um and just say everything has a cost to it, and and we can't avoid it.
00:42:06.880 --> 00:42:10.239
We can't kick it down the road, whether it's in the landfill or out of your pocket.
00:42:10.639 --> 00:42:10.880
Okay.
00:42:11.119 --> 00:42:18.239
I want uh to save a few minutes, but I just you also do just real quick these like featured pickups.
00:42:18.400 --> 00:42:26.159
So if you are a member of Redwell, you will be notified, hey, this month we're picking up yada yad for yada yeet.
00:42:26.480 --> 00:42:29.360
So so our featured category is something we have all the time.
00:42:29.519 --> 00:42:31.920
And there are materials in there we will collect all the time.
00:42:32.159 --> 00:42:37.679
You can always send us things like uh cords, uh small electronics like T T tops.
00:42:37.760 --> 00:42:40.239
Uh we can't take like tower computers or TVs.
00:42:40.320 --> 00:42:42.159
Sorry, they're just just a little too big.
00:42:42.480 --> 00:42:50.400
Uh but we'll also take wine corks, metal bottle caps, um, trying to think what else is out there, the regular bread tags is another regular item.
00:42:50.880 --> 00:42:51.280
Coat hangers?
00:42:51.599 --> 00:42:52.320
Coat hangers, nope.
00:42:52.400 --> 00:42:53.199
That is a rotating one.
00:42:53.360 --> 00:43:07.679
So that's those featured collections that we have as a part of that bag that every two-week pickup cycle that we have or neighborhoods, every two weeks, we'll have a category that is changing, that is generally diverted to a local nonprofit group uh that's collecting them.
00:43:07.760 --> 00:43:10.400
So like the coat hanger one you brought up.
00:43:10.559 --> 00:43:23.760
Um, we collected uh what is it like 16 Gaylords worth of coat hangers, which if people don't know what a Gaylord is, think of a very giant, giant cardboard box, like I don't know, 40 inches square all around.
00:43:23.920 --> 00:43:24.480
Caller that.
00:43:24.559 --> 00:43:24.880
It's big.
00:43:26.719 --> 00:43:27.440
It's a big box.
00:43:27.519 --> 00:43:29.199
So that was a lot of coat hangers.
00:43:29.440 --> 00:43:35.920
Um, just I I pulled a couple uh stats of items that we collected um under that category.
00:43:36.079 --> 00:43:37.440
One of them was holiday lights.
00:43:37.519 --> 00:43:41.280
We collected over 9,000 pounds of like holiday Christmas lights.
00:43:41.440 --> 00:43:43.440
Uh that was a big collection that we did.
00:43:43.679 --> 00:43:43.760
Wow.
00:43:44.000 --> 00:43:47.119
We did uh pet leashes, collars, and harness like pet supplies.
00:43:47.199 --> 00:43:49.039
We collect over 3,000 pounds of pet supplies.
00:43:49.280 --> 00:43:49.440
Wow.
00:43:49.599 --> 00:43:58.719
Then did you partner with Humane Society or I know one of the partners off the top of my head was my Pitbulls family, was a big uh receiver of those ones.
00:43:58.880 --> 00:43:59.760
Um we've also
00:44:00.639 --> 00:44:02.800
That's where like you know, old towels.
00:44:02.960 --> 00:44:07.519
You can bring them to vets, you can bring them to humane society, you know, there's places that you can bring these things.
00:44:08.239 --> 00:44:18.320
But what you're doing is not only um picking things up for people on a consistent basis, but then also when you're putting out that, hey, do you have any extra pet things around?
00:44:18.559 --> 00:44:24.400
Those are things that you often see like people not necessarily getting rid of because it might be good for one more walk.
00:44:24.800 --> 00:44:28.400
But oh, I can get rid of them and they're gonna bring them to someone who will use it.
00:44:28.559 --> 00:44:31.519
And and you know, that's great.
00:44:31.679 --> 00:44:40.960
So it's encouraging behavior of going through your stuff to serve someone else, but also unburden yourself and not put it in the trash.
00:44:41.199 --> 00:44:47.440
And and we give our members several weeks' notice of you know what our next rotating uh category is gonna be.
00:44:47.519 --> 00:44:50.159
I think they can see up the next like four pickups ahead of time.
00:44:50.320 --> 00:44:51.199
So you can prep things.
00:44:51.360 --> 00:44:57.039
So there are ones like one of my favorite ones is the kitchen utensils ones that we do where it's pots, pans.
00:44:57.280 --> 00:45:02.639
You know, people don't just, oh, let me sort through my kitchen real quick the night before my pickup, right?
00:45:02.960 --> 00:45:03.199
They know.
00:45:03.599 --> 00:45:05.280
It takes a little time to prep and look through.
00:45:05.360 --> 00:45:06.400
So um that's the same.
00:45:06.559 --> 00:45:09.599
And then do you post-sort to pre-sort?
00:45:09.920 --> 00:45:13.599
Do you post sort pickup to pre-sort what you bring to like bridging?
00:45:13.760 --> 00:45:21.280
Or can bridging say, oh, actually, you know, because bridging does the house stuff, like, or do you bring them everything and then they decide from there?
00:45:21.360 --> 00:45:24.960
Aaron Ross Powell So how it works is that we'll give you all the bags for our different categories.
00:45:25.360 --> 00:45:28.400
My driver will collect them, give you new bags or replacement.
00:45:28.559 --> 00:45:32.000
It comes back to our warehouse and we do uh we do an original sort.
00:45:32.320 --> 00:45:40.800
Uh so like in partnering with bridging for the kitchen supplies, they might tell us, hey, you know, they really don't want any like kitchen knives particular.
00:45:40.880 --> 00:45:44.480
I mean, hey, it's a sharp, it's a hazard if it do needs to be in foam, something like that.
00:45:44.559 --> 00:45:44.639
Okay.
00:45:44.880 --> 00:45:46.960
You don't want rusty stuff coming through.
00:45:47.119 --> 00:45:50.880
We'll do the initial sort through of that material and then send it to them.
00:45:51.119 --> 00:45:51.280
Okay.
00:45:51.440 --> 00:45:53.519
Um so we we we don't just send it raw.
00:45:54.320 --> 00:45:57.519
Someone looks through everything that's styrofoam to put the knives in.
00:45:57.599 --> 00:45:59.119
So you're kind of a one-stop shop.
00:45:59.599 --> 00:46:00.000
We do.
00:46:00.079 --> 00:46:02.079
That does come in handy for that one.
00:46:02.400 --> 00:46:05.039
Uh I know we asked members to cover those.
00:46:05.360 --> 00:46:11.360
You know, most do a pretty good job, but you know, we want to make sure the materials we send are being handled in a safe manner, too.
00:46:11.760 --> 00:46:16.159
All right, you have like 30 seconds to tell me how to be a better person overall.
00:46:17.440 --> 00:46:22.239
Well, in that short amount of time, I'd say certainly pop over to our site, ridwell.com, become a member.
00:46:22.320 --> 00:46:23.920
It's about 20 bucks a month.
00:46:24.079 --> 00:46:33.360
Uh it it's it's certainly worth it and just the impact that you're able to have to help out the environment and make our world a better place by you know wasting less and saving.
00:46:33.920 --> 00:46:38.239
And I think what I I appreciate you coming on and and the transparency.
00:46:38.559 --> 00:46:49.440
And I think that that having that transparency and having that conversation, you know, item by item and making people think like oh, I didn't even think about where that went.
00:46:49.679 --> 00:46:52.639
And so it's making people think like where else would it go?
00:46:52.880 --> 00:47:00.159
You know, a lot of clothes go to Chile in the Atacama Desert, and we have created mountains of clothes that we don't want from fast fashion.
00:47:00.400 --> 00:47:17.119
So it's like having these services help to serve a need for where things can go, but it also helps to expose the problem that we have too many things that aren't going somewhere, and that we need to start getting creative, but also maybe we should stop consuming as much.
00:47:17.360 --> 00:47:46.000
And if you want an intervention in your life to go through your stuff, you give me a call, Colleen Watterston at 612-747-1331, visit our website, space by spaceorganizing.com, and you can schedule for us to come out and give you a consult and go through stuff and help you figure out how we can size up your home and and get things into a better system so that you can hire Ridwell and just start moving forward better from there.
00:47:46.079 --> 00:47:49.599
So this has been Sorting Through Life on AM950, the progressive voice of Minnesota.
00:47:49.679 --> 00:47:50.320
Thank you so much.
00:47:50.559 --> 00:47:51.360
Thank you.
00:00:01.760 --> 00:00:02.399
Welcome.
00:00:02.640 --> 00:00:08.960
Welcome to Starting Through Life with Colleen Watterston on AM950, the Progressive Voice of Minnesota.
00:00:09.199 --> 00:00:10.960
This is Colleen Watterston.
00:00:11.039 --> 00:00:15.519
And I am the owner of Space by Space Organizing here in Twin Cities.
00:00:15.759 --> 00:00:22.000
And I have this show to try to talk about things that come up with the organizing process.
00:00:22.239 --> 00:00:27.519
And a lot of what comes up with the organizing process is a lot of things that leave the house.
00:00:27.839 --> 00:00:36.079
And with that, it's about our consumption, it's about what we what is waste, what can be donated, what can be resold.
00:00:36.479 --> 00:00:42.880
And within that waste community, there's waste, there's recycling, there's uh there's Ridwell.
00:00:43.039 --> 00:00:49.920
And so today I am so happy to have Jens Narvison, the operations manager of Ridwell Twin Cities.
00:00:50.000 --> 00:00:50.799
So welcome, Jens.
00:00:51.200 --> 00:00:51.679
Thank you.
00:00:52.159 --> 00:01:00.479
And so if anybody has driven around where in the Twin Cities, how far reaching can you see these white boxes with a little logo?
00:01:00.880 --> 00:01:02.479
We are all over the Twin Cities area.
00:01:02.560 --> 00:01:04.799
So we go as far north as Champlain.
00:01:05.200 --> 00:01:07.680
We go as far south down into Lakeville.
00:01:07.840 --> 00:01:14.640
Heading west, we head out into Excelsior area, and heading east, we head out to about Woodbury is about the range of our market.
00:01:15.280 --> 00:01:21.680
And there are these white metal boxes that sit outside someone's door, like an old-fashioned milk box.
00:01:22.000 --> 00:01:22.719
Yeah, kind of like that.
00:01:22.959 --> 00:01:23.200
Yeah.
00:01:23.439 --> 00:01:29.120
But instead of bringing in the milk and eggs, you're bringing out Recycling.
00:01:29.439 --> 00:01:30.079
Recycling.
00:01:30.400 --> 00:01:37.359
Recycling that doesn't have a next home within the traditional recycling process.
00:01:37.840 --> 00:01:38.000
Right.
00:01:38.159 --> 00:01:51.200
So where Redwell comes in is we really try to fill the niche areas that are materials that are common household items that your standard curbside recycling can't handle for various reasons.
00:01:51.439 --> 00:01:59.120
Either because it could be hazardous, like lithium batteries, those are a constant problem for traditional waste and recycling haulers.
00:01:59.280 --> 00:02:04.480
Or it could be things like uh plastic film that we take in, like your grocery bags, Amazon packages.
00:02:04.640 --> 00:02:07.439
It gums up the machinery, causes issues for them.
00:02:07.680 --> 00:02:12.240
We really try not to duplicate services of what's already being covered.
00:02:13.759 --> 00:02:14.879
That is great.
00:02:15.120 --> 00:02:18.240
Um I'm gonna out myself here, Jens.
00:02:18.479 --> 00:02:21.919
Um I am not the most well-versed in trash and recycling.
00:02:22.240 --> 00:02:36.159
And I will continue to out myself as home organizing and the days that I'm on a client clock and I'm in their home and I'm trying to help them get rid of things, it's not the most environmentally friendly day.
00:02:36.639 --> 00:02:41.520
Yeah, and I think a lot of people are in and can understand uh those moments.
00:02:41.599 --> 00:02:46.400
You're trying to clear through things, and it's like, yeah, well, what is the best way to get rid of these items?
00:02:46.639 --> 00:02:54.319
Um, you know, whether it's, you know, is it something you throw out, or if you're trying to uh dispose of it responsibly, it's where do you have to drive?
00:02:54.479 --> 00:02:55.759
How far do you have to drive?
00:02:55.919 --> 00:02:57.840
Oh, now I have to load this into my car.
00:02:58.080 --> 00:03:00.800
Oh, I'm going so far for just one item.
00:03:01.520 --> 00:03:05.280
I will say I am that person for people though.
00:03:05.520 --> 00:03:12.800
So if it is a hazardous waste, if it is something I but I've had a client's helium tank in my garage for a year once.
00:03:13.199 --> 00:03:33.199
Because I was like, of course, you know, I try to take so in the organizing process, I'll take I the client cares most about what's left behind, what's in the house and how it's the system that it's within the house and how I've made it so that they I always say like I earn my keep when you don't need to go buy new batteries.
00:03:33.520 --> 00:03:40.240
You know, I I make it so that you can shop your own home so that you have a proper inventory of what you own.
00:03:40.560 --> 00:03:46.639
But along the way, we identify a lot of excess and a lot of waste.
00:03:46.800 --> 00:04:00.080
And so like a batteries, and I know we're gonna get into topic specific of what you guys collect, but a lot of people's batteries end up in the bottom of a drawer or in the bottom of a bin, and you don't know where your batteries are.
00:04:00.560 --> 00:04:06.879
And so because they're not that expensive, it's one of those items that you just add to cart.
00:04:06.960 --> 00:04:15.360
It would take maybe five minutes to find, but 30 seconds to have Amazon bring you new ones or Target pull aside new ones for you.
00:04:15.520 --> 00:04:24.079
And it's more worth the quick add to cart than it is to take that five minutes to find those batteries.
00:04:24.240 --> 00:04:29.439
Because then also on the way to finding the batteries, you might get annoyed with yourself because they're in a junk drawer that you don't want to deal with.
00:04:30.000 --> 00:04:37.120
But by the time I find a lot of batteries, they're crusty, you know, and they're they haven't been used and they're no longer usable.
00:04:37.439 --> 00:05:10.800
And so I think this that what I'm learning from you and what I hope people take away by the end of our episode, and we'll even get there more, but it's like the conscious consumerism, and then also the conscious consumerism often I feel refers to what you're taking in and what materials and and the different purchasing habits, but also being a consumer, how do you consciously dispose of what you have consumed?
00:05:10.959 --> 00:05:31.839
And I think that's where you, you guys at Ridwell are really trying to create you know, a great network of not just yourself as the collectors, but all these distribution partners and these redistribution partners that can help make something not that could not be trash, not be trash.
00:05:32.079 --> 00:05:41.120
Because I once had someone tell me, um, you know, my wife worries that if we declutter, uh we're just gonna everything's just gonna end up in a landfill.
00:05:41.360 --> 00:05:44.720
And he said, Well, I'm worried that our house is becoming the landfill.
00:05:45.040 --> 00:05:50.240
And so there's that like, you know, there's that very real what do we do with this?
00:05:50.399 --> 00:05:58.319
And we kind of know that we're creating an environmental impact, but but I don't want to burden the environment, but I'm burdening myself in the process.
00:05:58.560 --> 00:06:02.639
So the origin story of Ridwell kind of comes from that dilemma.
00:06:03.360 --> 00:06:08.560
Uh a little bit, but it's also a little bit more um actually more kind of cute in a way.
00:06:08.800 --> 00:06:24.879
Uh so the origin story uh uh of Ridwell is um our CEO Ryan and his son Owen uh started this out in Seattle, um, and that it was his son that kind of noticed, like, hey dad, we there's not a great place to recycle batteries, and just everyone has them.
00:06:25.279 --> 00:06:26.959
What can we do better about that?
00:06:27.120 --> 00:06:29.600
You know, the things that come from the mouths of children, right?
00:06:30.879 --> 00:06:32.079
And it really started there.
00:06:32.240 --> 00:06:46.319
It started uh collecting batteries and light bulbs from neighbors, uh kind of growing uh around the neighborhood, and it grew from something they were doing in their garage to their basement to a storage unit to now uh what we now know today as Ridwell.
00:06:46.399 --> 00:06:52.319
Um originally it started as Owens List when we started off, but rebranding down the road as happens with companies.
00:06:52.480 --> 00:06:55.920
Um and now we're in eight major metros, which is really exciting.
00:06:56.160 --> 00:06:59.120
We have over 100,000 members nationwide.
00:06:59.279 --> 00:07:01.279
Uh we also have our mail-in program.
00:07:01.360 --> 00:07:11.519
So if you're not in one of our uh bin service areas and one of the metros we're in, you can mail us your plastics, your wine corks, um pill bottles, which is really fun too.
00:07:11.600 --> 00:07:14.800
Um just to be able to expand that access to people.
00:07:15.120 --> 00:07:25.759
Um I mean, we understand kind of uh your point earlier that we should be better about uh more conscious about what we're buying, how we're using it.
00:07:26.000 --> 00:07:34.800
Um and certainly when it comes to disposal, I think it's important to try to be conscious about it of how we dispose of things, where we can recycle them.
00:07:34.959 --> 00:07:38.399
But we also I think it's important to give ourselves a little bit of grace on it.
00:07:38.480 --> 00:07:45.920
Um, because it is hard to, you know, most people are in the position to drive around to how many different places to recycle things.
00:07:46.000 --> 00:07:47.920
Um and just it is the availability.
00:07:48.079 --> 00:07:51.519
It's hard to find places out there to recycle these materials.
00:07:51.680 --> 00:08:05.920
Um and unfortunately, yeah, every material isn't recyclable, even though we would think it might be like one of the items I get questions about often that I have yet to hear of a great source of uh is 3D printer um plastic.
00:08:06.160 --> 00:08:06.319
Okay.
00:08:06.560 --> 00:08:10.639
If there's a place to recycle that, I have I have yet to find one.
00:08:10.800 --> 00:08:13.040
Our partnerships team has yet to find one.
00:08:13.199 --> 00:08:22.720
Um and so unfortunately, yeah, there are some places we we just haven't figured out how to recycle it yet, but we should always try to make the effort if we can uh to try to recycle things responsibly.
00:08:23.120 --> 00:08:27.680
And okay, so I have two thoughts wish cycling and textiles.
00:08:27.920 --> 00:08:34.240
Um I am uh a resident of Bloomington, Minnesota, and I am a very proud.
00:08:34.480 --> 00:08:36.080
I think are we Bloomingtonians?
00:08:36.159 --> 00:08:37.919
I don't know, but I'm very proud to live in Bloomington.
00:08:38.000 --> 00:08:41.840
I love it, and it's a beautiful uh place to call home.
00:08:42.159 --> 00:09:17.039
And we get this Bloomington briefing, and I love looking through our Bloomington briefing and all of my, you know, neighbors and fellow Bloomingtonians uh who are active in the community, and we have a very good like water filtration, like we've got really good water, and we've got we've got a pretty good, I think pretty good recycling and you know all that program, but they'll break things down for us visually and things and um you know explain a lot so that you can understand why you pay for this and what you can do with that and our curbside um, you know, big item program.
00:09:17.279 --> 00:09:21.440
And uh we partner with Better Futures for more regular pickups.
00:09:21.759 --> 00:09:25.440
But they had something in there that was like wish cycling.
00:09:26.080 --> 00:09:38.080
And I just thought that was so clever, but it is like please don't throw these things that you wish could be recycled away in the recycling bin because it makes it harder for us.
00:09:38.320 --> 00:09:44.000
But it's like I think a lot of people think after it goes in that bin, not my problem.
00:09:44.240 --> 00:09:48.159
Like I took it to the curb, I was I I'm good.
00:09:48.399 --> 00:09:57.200
And it's that that you know, the Bloomington briefing kind of was like, you're not, you know, and so like I know pizza boxes can't go in.
00:09:58.000 --> 00:09:58.960
I never knew that.
00:09:59.039 --> 00:10:02.399
It's cardboard, but I'm guessing it it's because of like the grease.
00:10:02.639 --> 00:10:04.879
It's the grease on it that that makes it unrecyclable.
00:10:04.960 --> 00:10:07.679
It's it's uh food contamination essentially on it.
00:10:07.919 --> 00:10:10.080
We we run to the same thing with styrofoam.
00:10:10.320 --> 00:10:12.559
Um it's one of the materials that we can take.
00:10:12.720 --> 00:10:22.159
It's one of our highest levels of material with contamination, though, when it comes in, uh, that we end up not being able to recycle it is because of food contamination on it.
00:10:22.399 --> 00:10:22.639
Okay.
00:10:22.879 --> 00:10:32.320
Um, you know, we are the only unfortunately in our area uh there is only one processor for styrofoam uh within like 400 miles.
00:10:32.480 --> 00:10:34.399
And it's actually Coon Rapids Recycling.
00:10:34.559 --> 00:10:39.279
Uh Colleen up there that runs that organization does a phenomenal job up there.
00:10:39.440 --> 00:10:41.279
Um Colleens are good people.
00:10:41.519 --> 00:10:41.759
Yeah.
00:10:42.399 --> 00:10:43.519
They are wonderful people.
00:10:44.000 --> 00:10:44.960
So phenomenal.
00:10:45.279 --> 00:10:46.480
Yeah, never met a bad one.
00:10:46.879 --> 00:10:47.200
No.
00:10:48.480 --> 00:10:57.440
So they're our partner for styrofoam, and uh and just with their partnerships and what they can take downstream, we can only take the hard white styrofoam that snaps.
00:10:57.519 --> 00:11:01.039
We're not able to take the flexible foam material.
00:11:01.120 --> 00:11:03.360
We're not able to take anything with color.
00:11:03.519 --> 00:11:11.120
Um people still try to give it to us, hoping that we can recycle wish cycling, which you know, Redwell, we fall into that category.
00:11:11.279 --> 00:11:12.000
Yeah, it's wish cycling.
00:11:12.559 --> 00:11:13.440
You make wishes come true.
00:11:13.679 --> 00:11:14.720
We we really do try.
00:11:14.960 --> 00:11:15.840
We really do try.
00:11:16.000 --> 00:11:19.519
And and every material we, you know, we try to find a home for it.
00:11:19.679 --> 00:11:19.840
Yeah.
00:11:20.080 --> 00:11:27.919
Um but unfortunately, yeah, we we too run into that issue of hey, just unfortunately, we we're not able to recycle this just with the limitations that we have.
00:11:28.159 --> 00:11:32.960
Um if someone out there develops a better process or ways that we can bring it on.
00:11:33.279 --> 00:11:34.399
Bring it on, please too.
00:11:34.879 --> 00:11:54.399
Well, and that's where I think, you know, and I I out myself as such a novice because, you know, I know what bin to put on your shelf, and I can probably speak to most of what we use as an organizing product, but there are so many people whose entire careers have been dedicated to this industry and they've been in it for decades.
00:11:54.559 --> 00:11:58.240
So in preparation for this episode, I was like, oh, I could find statistics.
00:11:58.320 --> 00:11:59.200
I'm like, they could be wrong.
00:11:59.279 --> 00:12:07.200
I don't know because I don't have the context within the industry to situate myself as anything close to knowing, but I'm learning.
00:12:07.440 --> 00:12:23.200
And I think um what's exciting is the idea that we do have all of this energy toward more conscious consumerism, and it's a little demand-driven because we want a climate that's not as changing and we want, you know, uh a more sustainable environment.
00:12:23.360 --> 00:12:30.080
Uh and so then we have the demand to create solutions to do more with our waste.
00:12:30.399 --> 00:12:42.879
But like there was an article or a news story on MPR about a professor who's begun to develop a um textile recycling thing up there, a machine up there.
00:12:43.120 --> 00:12:47.679
And the amount of texts that I got from friends saying, Have you heard about that?
00:12:47.840 --> 00:12:54.320
Because they know I'm in the recipient of many textiles that need to go to a next home through the decluttering process.
00:12:54.559 --> 00:13:00.720
And we were at so Ridwell and Space by Space are both members of Reuse Minnesota.
00:13:00.960 --> 00:13:03.360
Emily Barker has been on the show.
00:13:03.519 --> 00:13:17.840
Uh I emailed her and got some resources, and Emily's email just reminded me how little I know because there are so many people who know so much, and how lucky are we to have Reuse Minnesota and a lot of people in our community who are doing great things.
00:13:18.080 --> 00:13:29.840
But last week we were at the Reuse Minnesota member meeting, and that uh I think this professors out of Duluth and one of our Duluth members was like it is just still a prototype.
00:13:30.000 --> 00:13:40.000
Like it is a very exciting prototype, but all of a sudden people hear this MPR program and they want to send their palettes to this woman, and it's like, oh, we're doing like a sweater right now.
00:13:40.159 --> 00:13:45.919
You know, like we're figuring out how to, you know, unweave, reweave, or, you know, something.
00:13:46.080 --> 00:14:05.039
So it's like I think the more that we talk about it and the more that we bring the resources together so that people can, you know, expand on the technologies together and figure out what's working and put funding around what's working so that we can keep expanding these next use uh uh things.
00:14:05.200 --> 00:14:14.559
And that that's what um you know we're gonna get into of what you guys take and what happens next in our next segment.
00:14:15.039 --> 00:14:20.000
But I think that people kind of uh think, oh great, there's a solution.
00:14:20.720 --> 00:14:23.840
And it's like uh we still need to do a lot to scale that solution.
00:14:24.320 --> 00:14:30.159
It's the scaling of it, and again, uh it's one of those things like you know, you kind of mentioned you're you're you're learning new things every day.
00:14:30.240 --> 00:14:31.519
You're you're reading about this.
00:14:31.840 --> 00:14:33.919
I I think a lot of us are in that boat.
00:14:34.000 --> 00:14:36.240
There's a lot of new things coming out.
00:14:36.480 --> 00:14:47.759
Um and realistically, we didn't get in this position overnight when it comes to the amount of waste that we have out there, how we've built these industries around these materials that aren't great for our environment.
00:14:47.919 --> 00:14:49.679
They're not gonna be solved overnight.
00:14:49.919 --> 00:15:02.559
And that's where it's like, again, kind of said earlier grace is a great word that I, you know, I I think we can, you know, can be pulled out of that religious context, but also what we need to just show each other of, you know, hey, we realize it's a problem.
00:15:02.799 --> 00:15:06.080
We just got to give each other time to figure out how to best solve it.
00:15:06.159 --> 00:15:07.759
It's not gonna be solved overnight.
00:15:07.919 --> 00:15:11.600
These new technologies are out there, they're gonna take time to develop.
00:15:11.759 --> 00:15:23.279
Um I also certainly doesn't have uh I don't think it helps that as a country, we're a little bit further behind maybe than other countries in terms of our recycling programs and really trying to get ahead of that curb.
00:15:23.519 --> 00:15:26.399
Um 12 years ago, I traveled 12 or 13.
00:15:26.799 --> 00:15:32.480
I was traveling and I was in Belgium at a train station and they had two things that were notable.
00:15:32.639 --> 00:15:44.799
They had uh translucent recycling bags in, you know, being held by like a metal rim in in a recycling thing, and they were four different colors of translucent bags.
00:15:45.039 --> 00:15:54.159
And so it's like if you're gonna throw the bottle in the paper, that's kind of on you know, and you can other people can publicly watch you throw it in the wrong recycling bin.
00:15:54.399 --> 00:16:01.840
So it's like they're pre-sorting, but they're making it not just, you know, a lot of our recycling and trash bins are opaque.
00:16:02.000 --> 00:16:03.120
You can't see through them.
00:16:03.360 --> 00:16:05.840
So you can't see if I throw a bottle in the trash.
00:16:06.320 --> 00:16:07.440
No one likes to see their garbage.
00:16:07.759 --> 00:16:08.480
Right, right.
00:16:08.639 --> 00:16:18.320
It no one likes to see their, you know, that word, uh SH, you know, like shh, uh no one likes it, you know, like let's be quiet about our shit.
00:16:18.399 --> 00:16:20.000
No one likes to see that stuff.
00:16:20.159 --> 00:16:22.320
And it's like, oh, out of sight, out of mind.
00:16:22.399 --> 00:16:30.320
But it was like it was actually a beautifully done way to better sort, better pre-sort, and better encourage people to publicly do that.
00:16:30.480 --> 00:16:37.440
And then unrelated but still cool, there was a charging station for your phone that was connected to a stationary bike.
00:16:37.759 --> 00:16:41.519
And so it was like encouraging exercise while you waited for the train.
00:16:41.679 --> 00:16:44.320
And you could get your phone charged if you biked for it.
00:16:44.480 --> 00:16:45.519
And I just thought, brilliant.
00:16:46.000 --> 00:16:47.360
It's a way to get people moving.
00:16:47.440 --> 00:16:49.279
And it was sponsored, probably.
00:16:49.440 --> 00:16:50.799
I I'm sure I have a picture of it.
00:16:50.879 --> 00:16:54.399
I'm sure like some tech mobile company sponsored that little bike.
00:16:54.559 --> 00:16:57.600
And so it worked out for them to get their phones charged.
00:16:57.840 --> 00:17:02.879
But it was so clever, and it's that what I have not seen that in the U.S.
00:17:03.120 --> 00:17:04.880
since, and that was over a decade ago.
00:17:04.960 --> 00:17:13.359
Aaron Ross Powell We don't quite have the infrastructure uh like some of those other countries do, or at least at least have we haven't put in the investment to get to that point.
00:17:13.519 --> 00:17:16.000
And it's also just a cultural change, too.
00:17:16.240 --> 00:17:21.759
And trying to change culture in America, that's a that's a larger question outside this one.
00:17:21.839 --> 00:17:22.000
Trevor Burrus, Jr.
00:17:22.480 --> 00:17:22.880
Wait, wait.
00:17:23.200 --> 00:17:24.480
We don't have enough minutes for that.
00:17:24.640 --> 00:17:24.799
Trevor Burrus, Jr.
00:17:25.039 --> 00:17:28.000
No, but you know, it's certainly, hey, we just got to take small steps.
00:17:28.079 --> 00:17:33.519
And you know, that's where Redwell, we're we're trying to be a piece of that puzzle to try to help figure these things out.
00:17:33.599 --> 00:17:38.000
Aaron Powell Well, and I'll be a piece of the puzzle by giving you some more space to talk about this.
00:17:38.160 --> 00:17:45.759
So let's take a quick break and come back and talk about Ridwell and all of these little small steps toward solving all the world's problems.
00:17:57.519 --> 00:18:02.880
All right, welcome back to sorting through life with Kolly and Waterstan on AM950.
00:18:03.119 --> 00:18:11.519
Today we are sorting through recycling and non-recycling and trash with Jens Narvison of Ridwell.
00:18:11.680 --> 00:18:17.440
And so, Jens, you run the operations of Ridwell here in the Twin Cities.
00:18:17.599 --> 00:18:25.119
And so congratulations, you just hit a huge mile of mile marker of over 10,000 subscribers.
00:18:25.440 --> 00:18:30.160
So people that have that Ridwell uh been outside their door.
00:18:30.559 --> 00:18:33.759
Yep, so over 10,000 members in the Twin Cities Metro alone.
00:18:33.920 --> 00:18:40.000
Um we have far other markets that are bigger, bigger than ours, but it's a huge milestone for ours for sure.
00:18:40.400 --> 00:18:42.400
Yes, that that's great.
00:18:42.640 --> 00:18:51.599
And a huge milestone for the Twin Cities for uh having 10,000, over 10,000 people who value this.
00:18:51.759 --> 00:18:53.359
And so it's a monthly subscription.
00:18:54.000 --> 00:18:55.119
It's a monthly subscription.
00:18:55.200 --> 00:18:56.559
It's about$20 a month.
00:18:56.799 --> 00:18:57.039
Okay.
00:18:57.200 --> 00:19:00.480
Um how it works is that we provide you a bin.
00:19:00.559 --> 00:19:04.079
It's a metal bin, the white metal bins you see all around town.
00:19:04.240 --> 00:19:09.680
And we give you uh cloth bags for all the categories that we use, um, besides for two of them.
00:19:09.839 --> 00:19:10.720
We'll get into those.
00:19:10.960 --> 00:19:11.200
Okay.
00:19:11.440 --> 00:19:13.759
Um the first one is plastic film.
00:19:13.839 --> 00:19:15.920
Uh let's just start going through.
00:19:16.160 --> 00:19:16.319
Yeah.
00:19:16.799 --> 00:19:18.559
So how do you want to dive into this one?
00:19:18.960 --> 00:19:19.680
Okay, yeah.
00:19:19.920 --> 00:19:24.160
Because so Redwell takes certain specific items.
00:19:24.400 --> 00:19:24.480
Right.
00:19:24.799 --> 00:19:30.079
And I think let's just go through those items and give them each their moment, um, or a few.
00:19:30.720 --> 00:19:32.480
Okay, so plastics.
00:19:33.359 --> 00:19:34.079
So plastics.
00:19:34.559 --> 00:19:35.839
And multi-layer plastics.
00:19:36.000 --> 00:19:37.759
Talk to me about plastics in general.
00:19:37.839 --> 00:19:40.319
Aaron Powell Plastics in general would say a great place to start.
00:19:40.799 --> 00:19:41.119
So good.
00:19:41.440 --> 00:19:42.799
Because it's all over the place, right?
00:19:42.960 --> 00:19:45.200
Um so we have a couple different ways we take plastics.
00:19:45.359 --> 00:19:47.839
Our first is our plastic film category.
00:19:48.000 --> 00:19:52.960
Uh so plastic film for us is materials that you can really take and push your thumb through.
00:19:53.200 --> 00:20:02.799
So it's your grocery bags, Amazon packaging, uh, there's some shrink wrap material that that falls under that, ziplock bags, those pretty common plastics.
00:20:03.279 --> 00:20:03.759
Bubble wrap.
00:20:04.079 --> 00:20:05.279
Bubble wrap would fall under that.
00:20:05.359 --> 00:20:06.160
That's another good example.
00:20:06.799 --> 00:20:08.400
Big bubble stuff that comes from Amazon.
00:20:08.720 --> 00:20:10.960
Yep, big bubble, little bubble wrap, that's totally fine.
00:20:11.119 --> 00:20:12.880
Those big pillows that they throw in there.
00:20:12.960 --> 00:20:13.039
Yeah.
00:20:13.200 --> 00:20:16.319
If you can pop them before you throw them in there, it's going to save you a lot of room.
00:20:16.480 --> 00:20:18.319
Um bring you joy.
00:20:18.720 --> 00:20:19.519
And bring you joy.
00:20:19.680 --> 00:20:21.759
There is something satisfying about popping bubbles.
00:20:22.160 --> 00:20:25.920
These new ones aren't as satisfying as the bubbles that always came in our childhood.
00:20:26.240 --> 00:20:26.720
True, extreme.
00:20:26.880 --> 00:20:31.279
I remember fighting with my siblings over who gets to pop the bubble wrap.
00:20:31.680 --> 00:20:37.599
Yeah, I I love bringing uh some of that to uh I have a I have a young niece that enjoys you know busting the bubbles.
00:20:37.680 --> 00:20:40.880
It's always just kind of fun to bring us a whole stack to just hear have fun with the ghetto.
00:20:41.200 --> 00:20:45.920
It's always like the kids, you get them this fancy thing for Christmas and they just want the cardboard box.
00:20:47.119 --> 00:20:47.680
It's so true.
00:20:48.079 --> 00:20:50.480
Uncle Jen's brought bubble wrap again.
00:20:52.480 --> 00:20:53.440
I haven't brought in a while.
00:20:53.519 --> 00:20:55.359
I might have to bring some over this weekend.
00:20:55.599 --> 00:21:00.400
Um but the plastic film, uh so those are the type materials you think of.
00:21:00.640 --> 00:21:10.319
Um you know, with that material, we get it uh we sent to a company called Trex, uh, and they turn it into that low maintenance decking material that is out there.
00:21:10.400 --> 00:21:13.200
So that's kind of the cool material that's made from that.
00:21:13.440 --> 00:21:17.759
Um the other plastic category we have is multilayer plastics.
00:21:17.839 --> 00:21:24.000
Um, this is the one that kind of surprises people, but it's uh those items that it's really a lot of food packaging.
00:21:24.160 --> 00:21:33.440
So it's your granola bar wrappers, ramen packets, uh, your coffee bags, the food netting around uh like oranges and apples that you can get.
00:21:34.079 --> 00:21:34.640
Oh, interesting.
00:21:34.960 --> 00:21:35.839
That counts as that.
00:21:36.000 --> 00:21:38.480
Because I suppose you can't rip it with your finger.
00:21:39.200 --> 00:21:40.880
You can put your finger through the netting.
00:21:41.440 --> 00:21:42.319
What do you do with it?
00:21:42.720 --> 00:21:42.880
Right.
00:21:43.039 --> 00:21:44.319
So it's that type of material.
00:21:44.400 --> 00:21:48.960
It's your dog food bags, those heavier, just multiple layers of plastic.
00:21:49.359 --> 00:21:50.160
That's plastic?
00:21:50.400 --> 00:21:50.640
Mm-hmm.
00:21:50.799 --> 00:21:51.519
That is plastic.
00:21:51.680 --> 00:21:54.960
A lot of them, you know, some most of them don't have a paper on the inside.
00:21:55.200 --> 00:21:56.640
Sure, there are some bags that are like that.
00:21:56.960 --> 00:21:58.240
But a lot it's actually a plastic.
00:21:58.640 --> 00:21:59.440
And you can't rip it.
00:22:01.119 --> 00:22:01.599
I've tried.
00:22:01.920 --> 00:22:03.680
No, those are really durable bags.
00:22:03.839 --> 00:22:04.000
Yeah.
00:22:04.640 --> 00:22:11.200
So those plastics, along with the pill bottles, we collect under our featured category.
00:22:11.599 --> 00:22:14.880
Those our market sends to a company called Hydro Blocks.
00:22:15.200 --> 00:22:20.079
They're a really cool company that they take those plastics and turn them into water diversion tiles.
00:22:20.160 --> 00:22:30.640
So say you have a spot in your yard, a farm field that for whatever reason just pooling water whenever it rains, they can bury those tiles and that will move that water away from it.
00:22:31.119 --> 00:22:32.960
I don't have the number right in front of me.
00:22:33.039 --> 00:22:36.640
I know when I first heard about it, there was a concern of like, oh, microplastics.
00:22:36.720 --> 00:22:40.000
That's been the big concern in the Twin Cities stuff with 3M.
00:22:40.240 --> 00:22:41.680
They've done the testing on it.
00:22:41.759 --> 00:22:45.839
It is well below any sort of level that they would worry about leaching into the system.
00:22:46.240 --> 00:22:46.400
Okay.
00:22:46.720 --> 00:22:51.039
So the important thing just being, hey, conscious about what that material is being turned into.
00:22:51.839 --> 00:22:57.680
And Emily Barker did send me some links to look into uh before the show, which was really helpful.
00:22:57.759 --> 00:23:02.480
And and Reuse Minnesota is such a good resource in the Minnesota in Twin Cities.
00:23:02.559 --> 00:23:11.920
And you know, they'll you email them, you become a you can be an individual member, but um you know, they just know so much and they have access to so many people who know so much.
00:23:12.160 --> 00:23:24.559
So um it was like then I was looking and you know the Chamber of Commerce, uh Minnesota Chamber, they've had something about recycled plastics and turning it into you know new materials.
00:23:25.200 --> 00:23:31.440
But this is like, you know, they have this thing, and and this is terrible that I have paper that I printed.
00:23:31.519 --> 00:23:40.640
I I was like, Jens, I'm a horrible person, but they have some film plastics coming from like plastic milk drugs being turned into new things.
00:23:40.880 --> 00:23:48.319
But what you're saying about these plastics, because we know that plastic bags can't go in the recycling.
00:23:49.359 --> 00:24:06.640
Like because they so the difference between Redwell and one of these bigger recycling places where you know recycling has all sorts of next use after the sort, they sell different, you know, materials as raw materials for different products.
00:24:07.119 --> 00:24:11.839
But you were telling me that the sorting is such a different process, it's a different thing.
00:24:12.000 --> 00:24:13.759
And that's why they can't take what you take.
00:24:14.160 --> 00:24:14.319
Right.
00:24:14.559 --> 00:24:15.839
It's a very different process.
00:24:16.000 --> 00:24:29.599
Um and I do want to highlight, too, um, for people listening to, if you want to dig further into some of the companies I've talked about, one of the ways we are different, per se, maybe than uh one of these larger city haulers is uh is our transparency level.
00:24:29.759 --> 00:24:36.319
You can go on our website and look at every company that we partner with, see where the material is going, see our diversion rates.
00:24:36.400 --> 00:24:38.480
We're very transparent about that.
00:24:38.640 --> 00:24:41.839
Um so encourage people, hey, take a look, check us out.
00:24:42.079 --> 00:24:50.880
Um But those larger haulers, um, whether you think of like Republic Waste Management, uh, they bring their materials back to what are called MRFs.
00:24:50.960 --> 00:24:52.640
Um, and these are very large.
00:24:52.720 --> 00:24:54.160
You really got to think of them as factories.
00:24:54.480 --> 00:24:55.519
I mean they're they're giant.
00:24:56.319 --> 00:24:57.039
MRF.
00:24:57.440 --> 00:25:02.960
Material recovery facilities are MRFs and they are pronounced MERFs.
00:25:03.200 --> 00:25:03.440
Murph.
00:25:03.680 --> 00:25:07.039
I wouldn't have come up with that, and that Emily helped me to know that.
00:25:07.200 --> 00:25:10.000
MRFs, material recycling facilities, MRFs.
00:25:10.480 --> 00:25:12.240
You can put that on your trivia card.
00:25:12.559 --> 00:25:13.119
You're welcome.
00:25:13.359 --> 00:25:14.400
It's a good acronym to know.
00:25:14.559 --> 00:25:14.640
Yeah.
00:25:14.960 --> 00:25:18.799
And and they they really do an incredible job when we think about it.
00:25:18.960 --> 00:25:29.359
Um they are taking, you know, I look at I have only 10,000 members in the Metro, where we have, you know, hundreds of thousands, if not probably close that million mark when you get into the suburbs.
00:25:29.599 --> 00:25:31.279
They're collecting all that material.
00:25:31.440 --> 00:25:33.359
They have to machine sort it.
00:25:33.519 --> 00:25:42.000
Uh, you know, sure there's probably some human sorting that goes in there at different points, but a lot of it is cameras, it's sensors that are trying to read and sort through that material.
00:25:42.240 --> 00:25:48.880
Where Ridwell is different is that all the material that comes into our facility is sorted by hand.
00:25:49.200 --> 00:25:57.839
Um I have a wonderful warehouse team that sorts through every material they touch every little bit to make sure it's being you know sorted to the right place.
00:25:58.079 --> 00:26:01.119
We're not sending, you know, dirty material to our partners downstream.
00:26:01.279 --> 00:26:02.880
So it's a very different process.
00:26:03.039 --> 00:26:09.519
Um but I can put pictures in because we got to go to the Reuse Minnesota uh member tour.
00:26:09.839 --> 00:26:17.839
We got to go to your facility and see your mountain of styrofoam and your mountain of pill bottles and your mountain of textiles, and it was like, whoa.
00:26:18.319 --> 00:26:18.960
It's a lot of stuff.
00:26:19.279 --> 00:26:22.240
And the people who are behind the sorting.
00:26:22.640 --> 00:26:27.039
So they're sorting all those things, and it's because of all those materials you can't sort by machine.
00:26:27.200 --> 00:26:33.119
Uh when you think of like the plastic films, your those multi-air plastics, those are just going to gum up those machines.
00:26:33.279 --> 00:26:39.359
It's you know, I think if there is a way that these Murphs could sort that material, sure they take advantage of it.
00:26:39.519 --> 00:26:42.960
But with just the volume, uh it's an impossible ask, really.
00:26:43.440 --> 00:26:49.599
Well, not just sorting through them, but that's something that gets, you know, it it's designed to hold something.
00:26:50.160 --> 00:26:57.839
So it's likely going to catch the thing inside of it, and now you have a milk jug in a plastic bag versus just a milk jug and a plastic bag.
00:26:57.920 --> 00:26:59.279
Aaron Powell You can have stuff like that.
00:26:59.519 --> 00:27:01.920
It just brings into a variety of issues.
00:27:02.559 --> 00:27:08.640
Um and certainly it'd be hard for them to sort out textiles that people throw in there or other type materials.
00:27:08.880 --> 00:27:10.559
Um that's where it is really different.
00:27:10.640 --> 00:27:11.759
Everything is hand sorted.
00:27:11.920 --> 00:27:13.519
Aaron Powell Let's talk about textiles.
00:27:14.240 --> 00:27:18.240
So textiles, uh we have two different lines of textiles.
00:27:18.480 --> 00:27:21.119
Um two different plastics, two different textiles.
00:27:21.519 --> 00:27:24.640
Two different textiles, and we still got a couple other categories to go.
00:27:24.880 --> 00:27:28.240
Uh so we have first, are we wearable textiles?
00:27:28.400 --> 00:27:36.160
Um we we started actually with recyclable only uh when we first kind of started out just because like, hey, that was a larger And that's that question.
00:27:36.319 --> 00:27:49.440
Like so many clients I go into have a bag that has, oh, that has rips, or that it's undonatable and but they don't want to throw it away because it's uh a textile.
00:27:49.759 --> 00:27:51.039
They know they they shouldn't.
00:27:51.359 --> 00:27:54.000
And so it's like, oh, this is my bag of where can I bring this?
00:27:54.319 --> 00:27:54.559
Right.
00:27:54.960 --> 00:27:55.680
Well, yep.
00:27:56.240 --> 00:27:57.440
We will certainly take it.
00:27:57.599 --> 00:28:05.759
So we have our rewearable line that is now, hey, it's clothes you give off to a friend, you'd give to a neighbor.
00:28:05.920 --> 00:28:13.759
Um we work with a company called Cycla for that one that will route that product to thrift stores so people aren't having to go drop their stuff off.
00:28:13.920 --> 00:28:25.039
I mean, it's part of uh our environmental impact is that instead of you know having you know driving 20 miles to drop off one item, our driver is already in your neighborhood coming and collecting.
00:28:25.119 --> 00:28:29.200
We'll we'll grab it and make sure it gets to a right source to for for that.
00:28:29.440 --> 00:28:34.240
Um so cycle will then send those clothes out to different thrift stores where they're where they're resold.
00:28:34.720 --> 00:28:43.920
Um if we they are more of an item that, hey, it's torn, it's ripped, we've got paint on it, you know, just really end-of-life clothing.
00:28:44.079 --> 00:28:46.720
That's where our recyclable threads come in.
00:28:46.880 --> 00:28:50.880
Um and that we actually uh send to a company called Vespean.
00:28:50.960 --> 00:28:53.440
They're actually down in uh Nevada.
00:28:53.680 --> 00:28:54.640
Nevada or Arizona?
00:28:54.799 --> 00:28:55.599
I want to say it's Nevada.
00:28:57.920 --> 00:28:58.720
Continental Southwest.
00:28:59.119 --> 00:29:00.720
Say Continental Southwest.
00:29:00.880 --> 00:29:06.319
Um and they take all those, uh take clothes uh that we get in that category.
00:29:06.400 --> 00:29:13.359
Uh they shred up and turn into the different types of fiber fill that can be used in things from punching bags, food insulation.
00:29:13.519 --> 00:29:16.799
Uh people don't often realize there's actually denim insulation out there.
00:29:16.880 --> 00:29:20.000
If they get a high enough concentration of it, they can turn it into that.
00:29:20.160 --> 00:29:27.599
Um, just a lot of different materials uh that you wouldn't normally otherwise uh think of come from that type uh of stuff.
00:29:27.759 --> 00:29:32.640
Um and it's a much better, you know, end-of-life use for it than just throwing it in a landfill.
00:29:32.720 --> 00:29:42.160
Um but it's certainly materials though too that you know your neighborhood goodwill, which often becomes kind of the the drop-off point for a lot of things people don't know what to do with.
00:29:42.480 --> 00:29:46.480
Um we can actually make sure it gets to a place where it's being reused in some way.
00:29:46.559 --> 00:29:50.000
Aaron Ross Powell We can just we both are not anti-goodwillers.
00:29:50.319 --> 00:29:54.240
You guys actually used Goodwill for a while, but there are a lot of anti-goodwillers.
00:29:54.480 --> 00:30:00.960
And my I I have dropped things off at Goodwill for as long as I can remember dropping things off.
00:30:01.279 --> 00:30:06.400
And I think a lot of home organizers drop their things off at Goodwill because it's between a client's house and theirs.
00:30:06.480 --> 00:30:08.000
There's probably a Goodwill.
00:30:08.319 --> 00:30:10.960
And they're open until six or eight, depending on the day.
00:30:11.119 --> 00:30:15.839
You know, and you you can still get rid of your stuff at it, it's very convenient too.
00:30:16.319 --> 00:30:31.200
I was taught a class in grad school at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs by Michael Worth Davis, who is a CEO of Goodwill, and I got to tour it, and that man is such a great guy, and I was so impressed with his leadership.
00:30:31.359 --> 00:30:42.400
And there's a lot of people who say, Oh, you know, the CEO makes too much money, or you know, they're running at this level, and and oh, I don't like how they distribute the vouchers or certain things.
00:30:42.799 --> 00:30:47.599
But it's like, first off, this is just my quick soapbox for a moment.
00:30:48.960 --> 00:30:51.920
Social sector, we call it the nonprofit sector.
00:30:52.640 --> 00:30:58.160
I do not like that so much because nonprofit, it's like everything takes money.
00:30:58.480 --> 00:31:03.759
And you know, just we're gonna talk about like there is a fee attached to Ridwell because this takes effort, this takes money.
00:31:03.920 --> 00:31:19.519
You know, I have a project management fee from my services that are like, I'm not gonna add up all the time that I'm shopping, that I'm everything I'm doing for you outside of the house, all the time I'm preparing, everything because commensurate on the time I'm in your house, this fee that I have is a 25% on top of what I do.
00:31:20.079 --> 00:31:26.079
It's going to be proportionate to what I do when I'm in your house, so that what I do in your when I'm in your house is really efficient.
00:31:26.480 --> 00:31:30.960
But then I'm not adding 10 additional hours you didn't realize I spent on your behalf.
00:31:31.599 --> 00:31:37.920
I'm just gonna add this little project management, but I deserve to have my time compensated for.
00:31:38.160 --> 00:31:42.240
And or you know, one of my my girls' time is compensated for.
00:31:42.400 --> 00:31:45.119
You know, you have drivers, there is gas, there's all this stuff.
00:31:45.440 --> 00:31:49.119
There is so much that goes into running a social sector business.
00:31:49.759 --> 00:31:56.000
And so there's now this like social business concept, like you guys are a profit-driven but social business.
00:31:56.400 --> 00:32:02.079
But I just wish we would stop thinking that anybody who wants to be in a career for good should make no money.
00:32:02.240 --> 00:32:02.400
Right.
00:32:02.960 --> 00:32:05.039
Or should live in poverty because they care.
00:32:05.440 --> 00:32:06.640
We we all have bills to pay.
00:32:06.720 --> 00:32:08.960
We all need to put food on our tables, you know.
00:32:09.039 --> 00:32:21.680
And we should encourage the smartest and brightest and most capable people to be solving our biggest problems and not just getting paid to sell us more stuff because the corporate sector is creating all these problems.
00:32:22.000 --> 00:32:22.319
Okay.
00:32:23.039 --> 00:32:23.440
Soapbox.
00:32:23.759 --> 00:32:27.200
And no, and it's a good it's no, it's it's a fine soapbox to be on my point.
00:32:27.279 --> 00:32:41.680
I mean, my original uh studies in college were mainly focused on nonprofits and nonprofit leadership is kind of my weird kind of educational background, and I I agree it should really be called more the social sector because you everyone needs to make money.
00:32:41.920 --> 00:32:44.160
Everyone has to again provide things.
00:32:44.400 --> 00:32:45.759
And goodwill like that too.
00:32:46.000 --> 00:32:57.279
Um but you saw, you were telling me about uh how much volume you were bringing to them and like where the excess volume goes, and there is stuff on that.
00:32:57.519 --> 00:33:08.559
But it's like if we're gonna treat Goodwill like an additional dumpster, then we have to let them do what they need to do with all of the stuff that we drop off that is too much.
00:33:08.880 --> 00:33:13.359
You know, and we feel real good driving through that little drive-thru, being like, oh, I donated it.
00:33:14.079 --> 00:33:15.519
Oh, I decluttered.
00:33:15.680 --> 00:33:18.640
And it's like you just imposed it on Goodwill.
00:33:19.039 --> 00:33:19.200
Right.
00:33:19.279 --> 00:33:25.279
It's it's again, it's that grace word of where it's like, hey, they're not no company I think is perfect.
00:33:25.519 --> 00:33:29.119
Like I think that is a horrible assumption to make.
00:33:29.599 --> 00:33:34.160
Um and they're certainly trying to do the best with what they can with the volume that they're getting.
00:33:34.640 --> 00:33:37.279
Um I mean, sure, are there ways they could maybe improve?
00:33:37.440 --> 00:33:37.599
Sure.
00:33:37.680 --> 00:33:39.359
I mean, people could argue with Redwell too.
00:33:39.759 --> 00:33:40.720
We can all improve.
00:33:40.880 --> 00:33:42.640
We're all trying to do what we can.
00:33:43.119 --> 00:33:44.960
I'm only perfect seven days out of the week.
00:33:45.359 --> 00:33:48.240
And so for us, like, yeah, we we were working with them for a bit.
00:33:48.319 --> 00:33:54.640
We found a a better partnership that more fed our, you know, met our transparency needs of where we need to get things to go.
00:33:54.799 --> 00:33:58.799
And I certainly wouldn't want to bash them because they do provide a wonderful community service.
00:33:58.960 --> 00:34:01.680
They give people jobs, they're a great kind of thrift outlet.
00:34:01.920 --> 00:34:03.839
I mean, I shop there on occasion.
00:34:04.160 --> 00:34:05.599
You know, I I love to go thrifting.
00:34:05.680 --> 00:34:05.839
Trevor Burrus, Jr.
00:34:05.920 --> 00:34:10.159
And I think if people have heard, oh, I think Ridwell just gives our close to Goodwill, but not anymore.
00:34:10.320 --> 00:34:10.400
No.
00:34:10.719 --> 00:34:12.000
On the record, not anymore.
00:34:12.159 --> 00:34:17.199
But also, it wasn't bad when it was, you know, and just like everybody's doing their best.
00:34:17.360 --> 00:34:18.239
Let's all, you know.
00:34:18.480 --> 00:34:24.639
I actually have a little poem I wrote, um, Little by Little, Space by Space, when it comes to organizing, give yourself grace.
00:34:24.960 --> 00:34:25.360
It's a good thing.
00:34:25.599 --> 00:34:28.800
So look at you just uh validating my grace.
00:34:29.119 --> 00:34:29.440
Okay.
00:34:29.840 --> 00:34:32.400
Um so textiles get dealt with.
00:34:32.559 --> 00:34:35.360
There's two other things, and then there's featured partners.
00:34:35.519 --> 00:34:39.599
We're gonna we're gonna put a pen just so that I know how much time we have left so that we can get into that.
00:34:39.760 --> 00:34:40.880
Because I think we can talk forever.
00:34:40.960 --> 00:34:43.199
So I need to have the proper countdown in front of me.
00:34:43.280 --> 00:35:02.000
Um so let's just take a quick, quick break, and we'll be right back sorting through life, sorting through all of our excess with Jen's uh of Ridgewell, all right.
00:35:02.159 --> 00:35:07.679
Welcome back to Sorting Through Life with Colleen Watterson on AM950, the progressive voice of Minnesota.
00:35:07.760 --> 00:35:21.119
And we are having a very progressive conversation here, um, which I just got an invitation to take Tiffany uh over to the warehouse and get some in-action footage of what this all looks like, where it what it entails.
00:35:21.199 --> 00:35:23.840
I think that'd be a super fun uh day.
00:35:23.920 --> 00:35:28.000
So we'll put that on the calendar for sure, and make a little video.
00:35:28.320 --> 00:35:31.360
Um can we ride around with a pickup person?
00:35:32.159 --> 00:35:33.679
You know, behind them?
00:35:34.079 --> 00:35:35.119
We could maybe work that out.
00:35:35.360 --> 00:35:35.760
I think we do.
00:35:36.079 --> 00:35:38.159
But I think it should I I think I should throw in there too.
00:35:38.320 --> 00:35:45.280
Like, I mean, I think I give a tour of my facility at least once a month to some different group or tour group or uh organization.
00:35:45.360 --> 00:35:46.960
I'm more than happy to do it for others.
00:35:47.039 --> 00:35:57.039
But I think I also want to encourage listeners too, like whether it's us at Ridwell or your local, you know, Murph recycling trash hauler, most of them offer tours and are more than happy to show you.
00:35:57.119 --> 00:36:04.880
And I think it's really important that people take the time to visualize what happens to your waste, what happens to your recycling when it leaves your door.
00:36:05.119 --> 00:36:09.360
Um I think it's people just they forget about it and it's out of sight, out of mind.
00:36:09.679 --> 00:36:10.800
Okay, Jens, you're ahead of me.
00:36:10.960 --> 00:36:13.679
Um batteries and light bulbs, then we can go there.
00:36:13.920 --> 00:36:19.679
Um with that call to action.
00:36:20.079 --> 00:36:26.880
Um yes, batteries, light bulbs, and featured featured partnerships.
00:36:27.119 --> 00:36:35.039
Um because but absolutely, and I think what this exposes us too is like, oh right, I didn't even think about that.
00:36:35.119 --> 00:36:38.480
Or I heard batteries could just go in the trash bin.
00:36:39.039 --> 00:36:40.480
So now I can just do that.
00:36:40.639 --> 00:36:43.679
You know, so hearing uh batteries and why.
00:36:43.840 --> 00:36:49.280
And then also I want you to speak to specialty batteries because I have heard that a battery can make a dumpster fire pretty quick.
00:36:49.679 --> 00:36:50.800
Yeah, they certainly can.
00:36:51.199 --> 00:36:52.239
Talk to me about batteries.
00:36:52.719 --> 00:36:55.119
So batteries that they're they're all around us.
00:36:55.360 --> 00:36:59.840
And you know, alkaline batteries are are certainly problematic in their own.
00:37:00.079 --> 00:37:02.079
Um but the real issue out there.
00:37:02.559 --> 00:37:09.039
That's like my AA, my triple A, my well, you can't even say that anymore because they're now AA, triple A lithium batteries.
00:37:09.280 --> 00:37:09.360
Oh.
00:37:09.679 --> 00:37:22.880
Um it's all down to the chemical composition of it, which is again one of those things why, you know, unless you're training some machine to sort it, all of our batteries would get in our hand sorted, uh, is because of the chemistry that can be in them.
00:37:23.440 --> 00:37:28.800
Um alkaline batteries are generally not as much of a worry of causing a spark, causing a fire.
00:37:28.960 --> 00:37:36.320
It's those lithium batteries that are out there, whether it's the little, you know, uh watch battery, hearing aid battery.
00:37:36.400 --> 00:37:40.480
Um I know the energizer AA, triple A is kind of the silver color.
00:37:40.559 --> 00:37:43.519
Um, but it's also things in our laptops and our tablets.
00:37:43.679 --> 00:37:49.760
Uh when they get really um when a lithium battery breaks down, it actually kind of inflates uh because the oxygen in there.
00:37:49.920 --> 00:37:56.800
Uh when it comes to electronics, people call them spicy pillows because that's what they're just a nasty looking pillow that's growing.
00:37:56.960 --> 00:38:18.480
Um so those we actually um in order to get them to our recycler, uh, the better battery network for our lithium battery collections, we actually have to uh pack it in essentially pelletized glass so that if there is a thermal reaction in there or if a battery has a thermal event in there, it will actually snuff out that fire.
00:38:18.559 --> 00:38:33.360
Um because if somebody puts like a bad battery, um, a battery um in the regular trash and it gets compressed wrong, or you know, something happens, like the whole truck could catch fire.
00:38:33.599 --> 00:38:34.159
It could catch fire.
00:38:34.320 --> 00:38:37.280
And and I've and I've seen this, and I think it's the story you're alluding to.
00:38:37.360 --> 00:38:42.079
Um before I worked for Ridwell, I worked in the audiovisual construction industry for a while.
00:38:42.239 --> 00:38:58.320
Um we were at a contractor's warehouse, was kind of the semicircle, and uh something caught fire in there that they're pretty sure was some sort of lithium battery, and they had to dump their entire load out into this parking lot uh because you know you don't want the truck catching on fire if you can avoid it.
00:38:58.480 --> 00:39:04.559
And essentially had to burn itself out, which is a lovely smell that no one can smell it just thinking of it.
00:39:06.079 --> 00:39:06.559
Not a good smell.
00:39:06.719 --> 00:39:07.440
And it's just a hazard.
00:39:07.519 --> 00:39:08.800
No, an astral burner.
00:39:09.119 --> 00:39:09.280
Right.
00:39:09.360 --> 00:39:17.280
It's like, you know, whether it's one of my drivers, your regular recycling trash haulers, it's a dangerous enough, hard enough job as it is.
00:39:17.440 --> 00:39:19.920
We don't need to make their lives more difficult.
00:39:20.079 --> 00:39:21.440
Um, but it's a hazard.
00:39:21.599 --> 00:39:27.519
Um, you know, it can be the small batteries, but it's really true, those big drill batteries, they're all lithium.
00:39:27.679 --> 00:39:31.039
Um, you know, again, your cell phones, it's they're they're a fire risk.
00:39:31.119 --> 00:39:31.280
Trevor Burrus, Jr.
00:39:31.360 --> 00:39:34.000
And those can go to the hazardous waste centers.
00:39:34.079 --> 00:39:36.880
So there's one in South Hennepin and Bloomington that I go to for that.
00:39:36.960 --> 00:39:51.840
There's a great facility in Roseville that collects all the things and has a great relationship with Repowered here in Minnesota that helps to take electronics that have second life and and they do a bunch with electronics recycling.
00:39:52.079 --> 00:40:12.960
Um there are places, but being able to have that consistent every other month, every other week pickup with you guys means instead of making those little bad decisions, battery decisions, they can say, okay, I'm gonna put in my Redwill bin, my Redwill bag within the bin, you know, and um be more responsible.
00:40:13.119 --> 00:40:14.400
Talk to me about light bulbs.
00:40:14.719 --> 00:40:20.800
So light bulbs we actually poke uh partner with a local company here in uh here in the metro called Clean Lights.
00:40:20.880 --> 00:40:27.199
Uh they take it, they they break down the different materials that are in there, whether it's glass, the metal, there's mercury vapors in some of those.
00:40:28.239 --> 00:40:32.159
It's not really nice materials that are inside a lot of uh fluorescent light bulbs.
00:40:32.320 --> 00:40:38.800
Um, but they break down those materials and able to sort it out into those raw kind of components so they can be reused.
00:40:39.199 --> 00:40:42.400
Um but we take any sort of light bulb you can think of.
00:40:42.639 --> 00:40:47.760
Incandescent, uh fluorescent, we do take the fluorescent light tubes, even the big eight-footers.
00:40:48.000 --> 00:40:54.480
Uh the tubes we do have an upcharge for just because of the risk of hauling them and just some of the disposal costs with them.
00:40:54.719 --> 00:40:57.119
But really, any sort of light bulb will take it.
00:40:58.400 --> 00:41:04.400
And that's that point that when people just want to be able to throw something away, there is a cost to it.
00:41:04.639 --> 00:41:11.360
You know, and if you aren't incurring it because you're doing it irresponsibly, someone else is or the environment is at large.
00:41:11.519 --> 00:41:17.039
You know, so it's just for people who say I don't want to have to pay for that, it's like, well, that's too bad.
00:41:17.119 --> 00:41:18.719
Trevor Burrus, Jr.: There's there's a cost somewhere.
00:41:18.880 --> 00:41:21.119
You can never avoid a cost.
00:41:21.360 --> 00:41:25.280
Um, and that's why it's got a question of like, hey, why do we have our subscription fees?
00:41:25.599 --> 00:41:26.960
Things cost money.
00:41:27.039 --> 00:41:32.000
Um, and it's uh the reality too of a lot of uh the recycled materials that are out there.
00:41:32.159 --> 00:41:34.239
People love the idea of recycling.
00:41:34.480 --> 00:41:38.159
Not everyone wants to pay for those materials once they're collected.
00:41:38.400 --> 00:41:45.199
Really, of the materials that I collect, there's maybe only one or two you can say, hey, we get a little income from disposing of.
00:41:45.679 --> 00:41:46.400
It's not much.
00:41:46.480 --> 00:41:53.519
Trevor Burrus, Jr.: But part of that transparency is like uh our operating costs are a lot more money than Trex pays us for your future deck.
00:41:53.599 --> 00:41:53.760
Trevor Burrus, Jr.
00:41:53.920 --> 00:41:54.400
Right, right.
00:41:54.559 --> 00:41:56.079
It's it is far higher than that.
00:41:56.159 --> 00:41:59.119
I mean, heck, we we we're all experiencing the gas prices right now.
00:41:59.199 --> 00:42:00.639
Aaron Powell Right, and you're a pickup service.
00:42:00.960 --> 00:42:02.400
Oh yeah, throw throw that in there.
00:42:02.639 --> 00:42:06.800
Um and just say everything has a cost to it, and and we can't avoid it.
00:42:06.880 --> 00:42:10.239
We can't kick it down the road, whether it's in the landfill or out of your pocket.
00:42:10.639 --> 00:42:10.880
Okay.
00:42:11.119 --> 00:42:18.239
I want uh to save a few minutes, but I just you also do just real quick these like featured pickups.
00:42:18.400 --> 00:42:26.159
So if you are a member of Redwell, you will be notified, hey, this month we're picking up yada yad for yada yeet.
00:42:26.480 --> 00:42:29.360
So so our featured category is something we have all the time.
00:42:29.519 --> 00:42:31.920
And there are materials in there we will collect all the time.
00:42:32.159 --> 00:42:37.679
You can always send us things like uh cords, uh small electronics like T T tops.
00:42:37.760 --> 00:42:40.239
Uh we can't take like tower computers or TVs.
00:42:40.320 --> 00:42:42.159
Sorry, they're just just a little too big.
00:42:42.480 --> 00:42:50.400
Uh but we'll also take wine corks, metal bottle caps, um, trying to think what else is out there, the regular bread tags is another regular item.
00:42:50.880 --> 00:42:51.280
Coat hangers?
00:42:51.599 --> 00:42:52.320
Coat hangers, nope.
00:42:52.400 --> 00:42:53.199
That is a rotating one.
00:42:53.360 --> 00:43:07.679
So that's those featured collections that we have as a part of that bag that every two-week pickup cycle that we have or neighborhoods, every two weeks, we'll have a category that is changing, that is generally diverted to a local nonprofit group uh that's collecting them.
00:43:07.760 --> 00:43:10.400
So like the coat hanger one you brought up.
00:43:10.559 --> 00:43:23.760
Um, we collected uh what is it like 16 Gaylords worth of coat hangers, which if people don't know what a Gaylord is, think of a very giant, giant cardboard box, like I don't know, 40 inches square all around.
00:43:23.920 --> 00:43:24.480
Caller that.
00:43:24.559 --> 00:43:24.880
It's big.
00:43:26.719 --> 00:43:27.440
It's a big box.
00:43:27.519 --> 00:43:29.199
So that was a lot of coat hangers.
00:43:29.440 --> 00:43:35.920
Um, just I I pulled a couple uh stats of items that we collected um under that category.
00:43:36.079 --> 00:43:37.440
One of them was holiday lights.
00:43:37.519 --> 00:43:41.280
We collected over 9,000 pounds of like holiday Christmas lights.
00:43:41.440 --> 00:43:43.440
Uh that was a big collection that we did.
00:43:43.679 --> 00:43:43.760
Wow.
00:43:44.000 --> 00:43:47.119
We did uh pet leashes, collars, and harness like pet supplies.
00:43:47.199 --> 00:43:49.039
We collect over 3,000 pounds of pet supplies.
00:43:49.280 --> 00:43:49.440
Wow.
00:43:49.599 --> 00:43:58.719
Then did you partner with Humane Society or I know one of the partners off the top of my head was my Pitbulls family, was a big uh receiver of those ones.
00:43:58.880 --> 00:43:59.760
Um we've also
00:44:00.639 --> 00:44:02.800
That's where like you know, old towels.
00:44:02.960 --> 00:44:07.519
You can bring them to vets, you can bring them to humane society, you know, there's places that you can bring these things.
00:44:08.239 --> 00:44:18.320
But what you're doing is not only um picking things up for people on a consistent basis, but then also when you're putting out that, hey, do you have any extra pet things around?
00:44:18.559 --> 00:44:24.400
Those are things that you often see like people not necessarily getting rid of because it might be good for one more walk.
00:44:24.800 --> 00:44:28.400
But oh, I can get rid of them and they're gonna bring them to someone who will use it.
00:44:28.559 --> 00:44:31.519
And and you know, that's great.
00:44:31.679 --> 00:44:40.960
So it's encouraging behavior of going through your stuff to serve someone else, but also unburden yourself and not put it in the trash.
00:44:41.199 --> 00:44:47.440
And and we give our members several weeks' notice of you know what our next rotating uh category is gonna be.
00:44:47.519 --> 00:44:50.159
I think they can see up the next like four pickups ahead of time.
00:44:50.320 --> 00:44:51.199
So you can prep things.
00:44:51.360 --> 00:44:57.039
So there are ones like one of my favorite ones is the kitchen utensils ones that we do where it's pots, pans.
00:44:57.280 --> 00:45:02.639
You know, people don't just, oh, let me sort through my kitchen real quick the night before my pickup, right?
00:45:02.960 --> 00:45:03.199
They know.
00:45:03.599 --> 00:45:05.280
It takes a little time to prep and look through.
00:45:05.360 --> 00:45:06.400
So um that's the same.
00:45:06.559 --> 00:45:09.599
And then do you post-sort to pre-sort?
00:45:09.920 --> 00:45:13.599
Do you post sort pickup to pre-sort what you bring to like bridging?
00:45:13.760 --> 00:45:21.280
Or can bridging say, oh, actually, you know, because bridging does the house stuff, like, or do you bring them everything and then they decide from there?
00:45:21.360 --> 00:45:24.960
Aaron Ross Powell So how it works is that we'll give you all the bags for our different categories.
00:45:25.360 --> 00:45:28.400
My driver will collect them, give you new bags or replacement.
00:45:28.559 --> 00:45:32.000
It comes back to our warehouse and we do uh we do an original sort.
00:45:32.320 --> 00:45:40.800
Uh so like in partnering with bridging for the kitchen supplies, they might tell us, hey, you know, they really don't want any like kitchen knives particular.
00:45:40.880 --> 00:45:44.480
I mean, hey, it's a sharp, it's a hazard if it do needs to be in foam, something like that.
00:45:44.559 --> 00:45:44.639
Okay.
00:45:44.880 --> 00:45:46.960
You don't want rusty stuff coming through.
00:45:47.119 --> 00:45:50.880
We'll do the initial sort through of that material and then send it to them.
00:45:51.119 --> 00:45:51.280
Okay.
00:45:51.440 --> 00:45:53.519
Um so we we we don't just send it raw.
00:45:54.320 --> 00:45:57.519
Someone looks through everything that's styrofoam to put the knives in.
00:45:57.599 --> 00:45:59.119
So you're kind of a one-stop shop.
00:45:59.599 --> 00:46:00.000
We do.
00:46:00.079 --> 00:46:02.079
That does come in handy for that one.
00:46:02.400 --> 00:46:05.039
Uh I know we asked members to cover those.
00:46:05.360 --> 00:46:11.360
You know, most do a pretty good job, but you know, we want to make sure the materials we send are being handled in a safe manner, too.
00:46:11.760 --> 00:46:16.159
All right, you have like 30 seconds to tell me how to be a better person overall.
00:46:17.440 --> 00:46:22.239
Well, in that short amount of time, I'd say certainly pop over to our site, ridwell.com, become a member.
00:46:22.320 --> 00:46:23.920
It's about 20 bucks a month.
00:46:24.079 --> 00:46:33.360
Uh it it's it's certainly worth it and just the impact that you're able to have to help out the environment and make our world a better place by you know wasting less and saving.
00:46:33.920 --> 00:46:38.239
And I think what I I appreciate you coming on and and the transparency.
00:46:38.559 --> 00:46:49.440
And I think that that having that transparency and having that conversation, you know, item by item and making people think like oh, I didn't even think about where that went.
00:46:49.679 --> 00:46:52.639
And so it's making people think like where else would it go?
00:46:52.880 --> 00:47:00.159
You know, a lot of clothes go to Chile in the Atacama Desert, and we have created mountains of clothes that we don't want from fast fashion.
00:47:00.400 --> 00:47:17.119
So it's like having these services help to serve a need for where things can go, but it also helps to expose the problem that we have too many things that aren't going somewhere, and that we need to start getting creative, but also maybe we should stop consuming as much.
00:47:17.360 --> 00:47:46.000
And if you want an intervention in your life to go through your stuff, you give me a call, Colleen Watterston at 612-747-1331, visit our website, space by spaceorganizing.com, and you can schedule for us to come out and give you a consult and go through stuff and help you figure out how we can size up your home and and get things into a better system so that you can hire Ridwell and just start moving forward better from there.
00:47:46.079 --> 00:47:49.599
So this has been Sorting Through Life on AM950, the progressive voice of Minnesota.
00:47:49.679 --> 00:47:50.320
Thank you so much.
00:47:50.559 --> 00:47:51.360
Thank you.
