While trying not to dampen your holiday spirit too much, did you know we create more waste in December than at any other time of the year? It makes sense when you think about it, but what can we do about it?
Ridwell brought their mountain of plastic bags to Larchmont yesterday to raise awareness about what is known in the recycling industry as “peak plastic season” when consumers create 25% more waste during the holidays.
“We have brought the mountain of plastic to highlight all the plastic film that was collected and diverted from the waste stream this year,” explained Jon Lagardere Ridwell Community Manager and Hancock Park resident who has been working with Ridwell for the past several years to launch their recycling operation in Los Angeles.
Ridwel finds companies who can recycle hard-to-recycle items like plastic film into products keeping them out of the landfill. They operate with a subscription model that picks up items from your home, twice monthly. The cost of a subscription is around $20 per month and varies depending on what items you want collected.
Ridwell recycles plastic film, multi-layered plastic, clothing & textiles, lightbulbs, batteries, styrofoam, and more. Since the company launched 5 years ago, they have diverted over 18 million pounds of plastic and other materials from the waste stream. Ridwell operates in Seattle, Portland, the Bay Area, Austin, Denver, Atlanta, Minneapolis, and now Los Angeles.
Recently, the company was granted a permit to operate in Los Angeles recycling what the city can’t recycle. Ridwill is opening their subscription service today in West LA serving the Pacific Palisades, Venice, Mar Vista, Brentwood, and surrounding neighborhoods. Next Wednesday, they will launch the service in Hancock Park and Larchmont, Silver Lake, Echo Park, Los Feliz, Glassell Park, Highland Park, Eagle Rock, and surrounding neighborhoods with more to come in January.
Over the past year, while they have been waiting for approval from LA SAN to operate, Ridwell collected just under 10,000 emails from people interested in signing up for the service. The Buzz had partnered with Ridwell on several promotions to help get the word out about their service. Buzz readers who are interested in a one-month trial can click here.
Ridwell’s service is one option for recycling plastic film and those multi-layer plastic bags that seem to contain nearly every food product we buy. And speaking of food, we hope you are using the city’s compost bins for food waste. We gave out over 50 compost kitchen pails at the Larchmont Family Fair. Reducing food waste means less is going to our landfills which create Methane gas. If you didn’t get one, you can contact LA SAN.
Rdiwell’s model of recycling plastic is good news and while it’s not free, it’s a good option to consider in addition, to trying to avoid using plastic as much as we can this holiday season.
