Curb My Clutter services 65,000 homes in the Philly, South Jersey area, looking to grow
The township has implemented an additional recycling system — and it doesn’t cost any money.
Last month, Gloucester Township partnered with Curb My Clutter, a recycling service that allows residents to schedule free collection of clothes and electronics rather than including these items in the everyday trash only to end up in a landfill.
Bob Anderson, vice president of sales at Curb My Clutter, said, “The company formed out of recognition that 85 percent of clothing today ends up in a landfill.”
Currently, Curb My Clutter services 65,000 houses in Pennsylvania and New Jersey with hope to expand further by 2019.
The process: Text “pickup” to (856) 367–6130; send pictures of items to earn rewards, such as a $10 Amazon gift card, via the text conversation; and schedule a pickup date.
Anderson approached the township earlier in the year, and the program was implemented in June.
Mayor David Mayer said, “First, it’s going to save us money.”
Municipalities pay per ton when disposing waste.
Before this service was introduced, Mayer said residents “either donate their clothes to Goodwill or other types of agencies, or, if they don’t, they typically throw it in the trash.”
Mayer is hopeful the price of waste disposal will decrease as the weight of Gloucester Township waste declines; he said the township will be able to estimate total savings after one year of use.
According to numbers compiled by Curb My Clutter, 10 percent of the waste stream is made up of clothing and electronics and, combined, across the nation, municipalities spend more than $500 million annually landfilling used electronics and clothing items.
Anderson, who has worked in the solid waste industry for 30 years, said “Convenience drives diversion.” He noted clothes and electronics disposal — if not left for a landfill — is “event driven,” and the text system of Curb My Clutter may encourage residents to recycle their items.
“Using our software, we are able to drive efficiency through the collection system,” he said.
Mayer said, “The second thing is, it’s good for the environment. Instead of going to a landfill or incinerator, we are repurposing it.”
Like the township’s move toward single-stream recycling several years ago, Mayer said, “The more people who recycle, the less our trash weighs. [Curb My Clutter] is the same kind of concept, but its recycling clothes.”
He added, “All they have to do is text this particular number and we save money.”
For more information about Curb My Clutter, visit https://www.curbmyclutter.com/.
