Marine Layer, the San Francisco-based apparel brand, and Trashie, the recycling and rewards platform, have partnered to bring an expanded clothing recycling service. The partnership unites Marine Layer's Re-Spun program, which launched in 2018 to give t-shirts a second life, with Trashie's Take Back Bag program, which enables an easy way to recycle unwanted clothing, accessories, and linens from any brand in almost any condition.
People can purchase a Re-Spun Take Back Bag for $20 from Marine Layer's website, fill it with unwanted items, and then mail the bag back to Trashie using a pre-paid shipping label. In exchange, customers receive $40 in credit to spend with Marine Layer.
Marine Layer's Re-Spun program was initially centred around recycling old t-shirts for store credit and has successfully diverted over 500,000 t-shirts from landfills and provided $2 million in credits to date. Leveraging Trashie's recycling platform, Marine Layer will be able to increase recycling rates by an estimated five times while tracking detailed impact metrics.
Trashie's recycling platform sorts and grades all collected materials onshore into 253 grades. As a result, 90 percent of collected items are diverted from landfills and are designated for reuse, downcycling, and fibre recycling. By aggregating collections across Trashie's partner and DTC programs, Trashie recycles more effectively than when small quantities of individual items or materials are collected in a silo. Trashie's impact dashboard will help Marine Layer track recycling volumes in real-time and will generate metrics on landfill diversion, water savings, and CO2 emission reductions.
At a time when the EPA is reporting that 80 pounds per person in the U.S. is being discarded into landfills annually, having a system that incentivizes recycling at scale is critical. Each Re-Spun Take Back Bag can hold approximately 15 pounds of textiles, which when recycled, represents 151 pounds in CO2 and 1,596 gallons of water savings.
"We believe in the power of collaboration and innovation to drive sustainable change," said Kristy Caylor, founder & CEO of Trashie. "Our partnership with Marine Layer allows us to collectively make a tangible impact on the environment and reshape how people perceive clothing recycling."
