Latest news with #Trashie
Yahoo
02-08-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Shopper sparks outrage with photo of unbelievable sighting on Salvation Army shelves: 'People have lost their ... minds'
A Reddit user spotted some outrageous price tags at the Salvation Army recently and took to r/ThriftGrift to share their incredulity. The community shared the sentiment. "Saw these towels for $8 EACH at Salvation Army," the original poster wrote, alongside a photo of the hung towels. Instances like this are shocking to see, considering thrift shopping is usually such a great way to save money. Similar sad situations have overpriced kitchen mixers, shoes, and clothes. That said, lots of secondhand shoppers have found some proper treasures while thrifting. In fact, sometimes items even have literal cash hidden inside them. Some businesses help shoppers get used items for reasonable prices and reward you for making your own donations. Trashie, ThredUp, and GotSneakers are just a few of them. Besides savings, thrift shopping also prevents clothes from going to landfills. When clothing breaks down, it contributes methane to the atmosphere, which traps heat and exacerbates destructive weather patterns such as floods and droughts. Those cause enough damage to make homes uninsurable and ruin farming crops. What's more, deteriorating clothing is likely to shed microplastics, which filter into marine ecosystems and eventually into the fish we catch and eat. Once ingested, microplastics are linked to all sorts of endocrine, immune, and reproductive health issues in humans. On top of avoiding these downstream effects of clothing waste, thrifting also reduces the demand for making new clothes. Manufacturing clothing has its own slew of environmental costs, including a reliance on oil production. While thrifting is generally a great idea, Reddit commenters were shocked to see prices like this for towels. "I just got brand new fluffy oversized towels for $4.99 each at Costco," one community member said. "No random butts have touched them. People have lost their damn minds." "Can't you buy new towels at ikea for $2-5 depending on the quality you want?" another commented. Which of these factors would most effectively motivate you to recycle old clothes and electronics? Giving me money back Letting me trade for new stuff Making it as easy as possible Keeping my stuff out of landfills Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the the daily Crossword
Buzz Feed
20-06-2025
- Business
- Buzz Feed
Trashie Take Back Bag Review: Why I Won't Be Reusing It
One of my New Year's resolutions for 2025 was to go through my closet and get rid of clothes that I no longer wear. But there's still even more for me to get rid of. And, a few weeks ago, I started getting a BUNCH of ads for this company called Trashie. Trashie promises an easy, straightforward, and environmentally conscious way to get rid of clothing. Here's a screengrab from the Trashie homepage. Here's how Trashie proports to work: as a customer, I would pay for the bags (anywhere from $15 — $20), and once I sent in the filled bags, I would more or less make my money back (plus some extra value) via their rewards portal. So if I spent $15 on a bag, I would receive 30 TrashieCash Rewards (which is supposedly equivalent to $30) to spend on gift cards to popular brands and companies that have partnered with them. They also offer discount codes (i.e., percentages off). And then on the environmentally conscious side of things, Trashie claims that they have an advanced sorting system that ensures that they send "95% of the unwanted clothing we collect to the next right place." Their website highlights that they send the items of clothing to different regions of the world based on the needs of the destination, specifically stating: "...We send warm coats to Eastern Europe during winter, durable t-shirts to field workers in Southeast Asia, and sweaters to South America during their colder months." They also recycle clothes that don't meet their standards for re-use. If you want to read more, you can check out the "How We Recycle Textiles" page on their website. So it feels vaguely like a win-win. I say vaguely because, truthfully, I still wasn't entirely clear on the impact of their processes, and when I looked it up independently, I didn't come across a reputable third-party report on whether or not they are actually successful in their upcycling and recycling efforts. But, from what I could find online, it seemed no worse than any other service out there claiming to take on the burden of recycling our excess clothing. (It's me, the lazy person in question). And this post on EcoCult was mostly favorable about Trashie, citing how traditional recycling doesn't really work. When it came to the rewards system, I was particularly interested in the hotel travel credit they offered because I'm always looking for good travel deals. So, I decided to give Trashie a do I have thoughts. So let's get into it. But first, let me back up. For context, I ordered their 3-pack "Take Back Bags" with a $15 coupon, so it came to $45 for three bags ($15 per bag) plus $4 in taxes. TLDR: The total I paid for three bags was $49. They arrived relatively quickly, and these were what they looked like straight out of the packaging. I first stuffed one with mostly my husband's clothing (I say mostly because everything was his except for the "Life Is Pain Au Chocolat" sweatshirt towards the top). This amount of clothing fit into the bag pretty seamlessly. I added shoes in two of the subsequent bags, and those definitely took up a larger amount of the space than I had anticipated (I think due to the bag's flexible nature). When it comes to packaging up the bags and dropping them off at UPS, it couldn't have been easier. I sent back all three bags filled with a mix of my husband's clothes, my mom's clothes, and my clothes. The shipping was free via a QR code that UPS scanned upon drop-off. However, the rewards system has proven to Remember how I wanted the travel credit? Well, I got it! of. First, I carefully read through the fine print. Because I just sensed in my heart of hearts that I was going to run into some sort of logistical snafu. I've included a screenshot below, but you don't need to read all of that (though you're welcome to). And if you're curious to read the full terms and conditions, here's the link for the Travel Credit Reward, here's the link. Here is what wasn't made clear, in my personal opinion: the credit isn't available to use directly with any of the major hotel brands they advertised (trust me, I embarrassingly tried and failed to use the credits directly at a Hyatt in Boise, Idaho when trying to check in for my friend's wedding weekend). Instead, Trashie will send you a code which you then enter with a company called Travel Leisure Club, a sort of third-party booking website. (You can see my $75 credit in the top right corner). So I thought, that's okay. I've booked accommodations before via TripAdvisor and maybe this is like that. Except, not every available reservation will even accept my $75 credit. In fact, it seems that only the SUPER expensive hotels will apply it. Let me give you some examples: I put in for a weekend in London in August. And as you can see on the right, each of those reservations will honor the $75 of those reservations is over $1,000 per night. Now, if I change the sort tool to put the least expensive hotels at the top (for the same search i.e., the same long weekend in London), none of the hotels will implement my $75 credit. I sense they're using some sort of a sliding scale, though I can't determine mathematically or algorithmically what they could possibly be implementing. Some of the hotels offer $5 off, others $30, and so on. For example, below are the least expensive hotels I could find under that same search that would implement at least a portion of my available $75 credit. Some places definitely appear to have better options. For example, I went back to searching for Boise, Idaho, and some hotels popped up that I definitely would have considered booking had I not been going in for my friend's wedding room block. This is no hate to Travel Leisure Club, I'm here to review Trashie! I just felt like they advertise their rewards as super easy to use, as if it'll be a straight-forward gift card, and that just wasn't the case for the travel credit, where my options definitely appear limited. And the other reward options just don't personally speak to me that much. They offer a number of rewards for my whole goal is to be shopping less! So I checked out the rewards in the "Entertainment" category, but I'm not someone who is plugged into the NBA (if you are, maybe these will be of interest to you, though, I would have gotten excited about baseball, personally). Then I checked out the dining and delivery rewards and decided to do the Levain gift card. If you can see in the fine print, I'll have to buy $50 in order to get the $15 off and I have to use it within one month, so there are still limitations, but at least it was a much more straightforward gift card situation, which I appreciated. When I look online, most people really don't trust Trashie and liken it to a scam, and honestly, I get it. Here's a screenshot from a Reddit thread. The text reads: "Hey, I'm sorry I'm removing this due to Trashie essentially being a scam. You have to pay to send in clothes to receive discounts that are essentially publicly available. The 'good' discounts they advertise are always sold out, likely they only offer a few to cover their a**es legally. It is more financially beneficial for you to donate your clothes locally, since that is free. Please research Trashie more before using!" And, to top things off, when my editor was providing feedback, he told me that the Levain discount I cashed in for was functionally already publicly available vis-à-vis their referral program. So, it doesn't seem like this discount was exclusive or that meaningful, either. Here are my final thoughts. So, would I use Trashie again? No, I personally wouldn't.
Yahoo
19-04-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
NBA launches collaboration with Trashie to engage fans in surprising new way: 'Allows us to reward NBA fans'
The NBA has teamed up with the recycling and rewards platform Trashie to make it easier than ever for fans to feel good about saying goodbye to their unwanted clothing — while getting exclusive game-day perks in the process. The slam dunk? Fans don't have to pay a thing to get started. NBA fans can score one of Trashie's popular Take Back Bags for free for a limited time through the exclusive partnership. After you load up the bag with up to 15 pounds of old clothing, shoes, sports gear, and more — and ship it off with a free UPS label to Trashie to recycle — you'll receive major discounts, plus the chance to win tickets to the 2025 NBA draft this June. (A sweepstakes for tickets to April's WNBA draft has already wrapped up.) Other rewards include 20% off items from sports lifestyle brand '47; $20 off Nike, Fanatics, and Sportiqe gear; $10 off select HydraPeak water bottles; 20% off NBA draft and NBA Summer League experience packages; and even instant hotel credits. It's no secret that the average U.S. consumer tosses out a lot of clothes — around 82 pounds each year, according to And many of those textiles are made from synthetic, hard-to-break-down materials (like plastic, which is derived from polluting dirty fuels). This waste can negatively impact every part of society, resulting in overcrowded landfills, toxic chemical contamination, and the undesirable release of methane, a heat-trapping gas with a warming effect in our atmosphere up to 80 times more potent (in the short term) than carbon dioxide. The NBA's collaboration with Trashie is so encouraging because it empowers fans to be part of the solution. "Collaborating with Trashie allows us to reward NBA fans for reducing waste," Annie Horn, NBA director of social responsibility and sustainability, told The Cool Down. "Through our pilot program, we're able to encourage fans to practice responsible waste management and incorporate more sustainable habits into their lifestyle." The sports industry can unify communities and be a huge economic driver, creating jobs and bringing in tourism revenue. But it can also generate significant waste and pollution. The NBA has not hesitated to take on these environmental challenges. For nearly two decades, NBA Green has worked to inspire fans and business partners to work toward a cleaner future. Which of these factors would most effectively motivate you to recycle old clothes and electronics? Giving me money back Letting me trade for new stuff Making it as easy as possible Keeping my stuff out of landfills Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. The latest collaboration with Trashie is possible thanks to NBA Launchpad, a research and development program designed to accelerate basketball innovation and business growth by identifying and supporting new technologies and services. In this fourth cohort of the initiative, the NBA expanded its vision with a new target category, "The Future of Impact," and honored Trashie as one of the five companies to be included in this year's cohort. Additionally, in recent years, the NBA has cut plastic bottle use in its offices by 80%, launched its Nets for Change program to clean up our oceans, reworked its game schedule to reduce pollution from air travel and benefit player health, and pledged to support sustainable sports infrastructure. Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
Yahoo
12-03-2025
- Lifestyle
- Yahoo
Fashion experts warn of troubling trend causing sharp increase in clothing prices: 'The quality … has gone down'
Luxury designers are becoming even less accessible to ordinary people due to a growing fashion trend. According to The Conversation, luxury fashion brands saw a 5% decline in growth in 2024. While this number may seem small, the cause of the decline is concerning. More affordable fast-fashion brands have caused mid-tier brands to increase prices because they want to be seen as more aspirational. In turn, high-end brands have also increased their prices to sometimes outrageous levels. For example, some Chanel bags have reached €10,000 (about $10,400). Even the prices in the secondhand market have doubled. Dupes are another cause of the price hikes. Walmart recently released an Hermès Birkin dupe. At $80, it's proving to be extremely popular. According to The Street, it's already sold out on Amazon. Dupes make luxury brands want to separate themselves from the look-alikes and pump prices higher to encourage exclusivity. Luxury brands tend to be made with better materials, so they last longer. You may think that the affordable, cute top you got on the internet was great because you didn't have to spend much money on it. However, you'll be surprised to find out what you actually bought. According to the University of Pennsylvania, "To make clothing more accessible and cheaper, the quality of the materials has gone down." These clothes are made from much cheaper materials, including synthetic fibers such as acrylic, spandex, polyester, rayon, and nylon. "Around two-thirds of all textiles today are made of plastic or have some plastic component," the University of Pennsylvania added. "Plastic fibers shed microplastics, and the lower quality they are, the more they will shed." While that item of clothing seems cheap, it doesn't last long, which means it isn't a good investment. What's your primary motivation in shopping at thrift stores? Cheaper clothes Trendier items Reduced environmental impact I don't thrift Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. The University of California explained that most items from fast-fashion companies last only 10 wears and then end up in landfills. This exacerbates the problem because it encourages more purchases. These clothes are also harmful to the environment. When you wash clothes from a fast-fashion company, microplastics come off them, and when the machine drains, those microplastics get dumped into rivers and oceans. According to Green America, 35% of global microplastics come from washing machines. Once in oceans, they can stunt the growth of marine animals and make it harder for them to eat. While breaking up with fast fashion may seem impossible, you can save money by buying higher-quality clothes — $200 or more annually. As for those worn-out fast-fashion clothes, you can send them to companies such as Trashie to recycle. In return, Trashie will give you rewards from companies such as Chewy, Uber Eats, and Allbirds. Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
