Recycling startup Ridwell hits 130,000 customers as new mail-in service takes off across the U.S.

Ridwell, the Seattle startup that collects plastic and other hard-to-recycle items from consumers, keeps growing its footprint across the U.S.

The company recently expanded beyond the home pickup bins where it got its start with a new mail-in service that has already attracted about 20,000 users in recent months.

It is also reeling in more investment. A new SEC filing reveals the company has raised $15 million in fresh cash. Ridwell CEO Ryan Metzger declined to comment on the filing.

Metzger, a former director at Madrona and Zulily, told GeekWire that the mail-in service has grown “remarkably,” helping Ridwell extend its reach to 130,000 customers in all 50 states.

Customers can recycle multi-layer plastic such as bags for chips or candy wrappers, as well as plastic film, which includes grocery bags and bubble wrap, by packing it all in a bag provided by Ridwell. They schedule a home pickup through Ridwell’s integration with the U.S. Postal Service and then track their garbage’s recycling journey online.

There’s no monthly subscription like there is with Ridwell bin pickups. Customers pay $30 to start and about $9 for each return, spaced out however often they need the service.

Metzger has been promoting the new offering at nearly 200 community meetups throughout the country. “It’s a great way to get the word out and really build adoption amongst people who are most passionate,” he said.

Ridwell’s traditional pickup service still operates across eight metro areas in seven states: Washington, Oregon, California, Colorado, Georgia, Minnesota and Texas. Customers pay $20 for that monthly service in which plastics and other add-ons such as Styrofoam or batteries are collected by Ridwell drivers.

Metzger said that as adoption grows in a certain region, that region can be turned into a pickup area, with a Ridwell facility, drivers and other workers. The new funding will facilitate that growth. All of the materials from pickup and mail-in are routed to 10 Ridwell-run processing facilities around the country.

Ridwell, which employs about 250 people, sorts, bales, and ships materials such as multi-layer plastic to a variety of partners, who give the material a second life. For instance, Trex makes composite decking materials; Hydroblox makes water drainage material; and ByFusion makes construction-grade building blocks.

Metzger called the mail-in service’s integration with the Postal Service a unique user experience. Through the Ridwell website, customers can schedule a pickup for a carrier who will grab a bag of recycling during a typical mail drop.

Because the practice of recycling and whether it actually works or makes a difference environmentally has been called into question in recent years, Metzger said it’s important to show customers the journey of their materials.

“We try to do some of what e-commerce has built over decades, and bring that to the reverse side of things,” he said of Ridwell’s package tracking. “So when you give us stuff, you see where it goes, the fact that it actually made it there, and what it gets turned into.”

Metzger launched Ridwell in 2018 after he and his then-7-year-old son were trying to get rid of dead batteries and realized it wasn’t that easy.

During his talks with community members — from Port Townsend, Wash., to Concord, Mass. — Metzger likes to demonstrate the physical result of recycling, showing off a piece of Trex or Hydroblox.

“I can say, ‘Here’s all this stuff that you can put in that bag, and then here’s what it turns into,'” Metzger said. “There is a trust barrier that we’re overcoming, so it’s important to meet people and look at them face to face and show them what happens to it.”

Previously:

• Ridwell starts collecting more difficult types of plastic as recycling startup grows to seven states
• Behind the recycling scenes at Ridwell: Seattle startup growing as fast as piles of plastic and more