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.
I'm definitely one of those people who convinces themselves, "Maybe I'll fit into this again," or "Maybe this hypothetical, hyper-specific event will pop up, and then I'll NEED this pirate hat," and, as a result, I hold onto old clothes longer than I probably should.
So this year, I challenged myself to gather the clothing that doesn't fit me or that I no longer wear, and start giving it away and donating it. Which, so far, I've done! I started by going through my childhood bedroom at my mom's apartment and donating a bunch of clothing to charity.
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 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.
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."
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.
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 try...and...Oh, do I have thoughts.
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).
When it comes to packaging up the bags and dropping them off at UPS, it couldn't have been easier.
However, the rewards system has proven to be...esoteric. Remember how I wanted the travel credit?
Well, I got it! Yay...sort 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).
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.
So I thought, that's okay. I've booked accommodations before via TripAdvisor and Booking.com, 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:
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 traveling for my friend's wedding with the intention of booking via her room block.
This is no hate to Travel Leisure Club, I'm here to review Trashie! I just felt like Trashie advertises 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 shopping...but 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; 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.
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.
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.
Here are my final thoughts.
Was Trashie easy to use when it came to packing up and shipping off my clothes? Yes! It was.
Is it clear to me that what Trashie is doing is genuinely beneficial for the environment? No, I can't find any institution that's done a thorough third-party report on this. Also, given that a disproportionate number of their rewards are in the shopping space, it feels counter-productive to encourage people to keep shopping and thereby continue the cycle of overconsumption.
Were the rewards worthwhile and easy to use? Worthwhile is in the eye of the beholder, but for me, these rewards weren't all that exciting. And my experience with the hotel credit was most certainly labyrinthine.
So, would I use Trashie again? No, I personally wouldn't.
But if you have, I want to hear about it! Did you have a similar, better, or worse experience? Or do you know of any other companies that are great for donating unwanted clothes? Let me know in the comments!