Re Told Recycling is a side hustle for entrepreneurs Alan Yeoh and Amelia Trumble. They both have high-powered corporate jobs, but they wanted to help the planet. Many businesses these days are looking for ways to reduce things going into landfills, and Re Told Recycling is no exception. In fact it’s the whole reason for the business’ existence.
What the company does is accept old clothing and any other textiles people may have in their homes and either sells, donates or recycles them. I’m sure you’re thinking that taking old clothes to Goodwill or some similar place is just as good as recycling, but a lot of that clothing gets thrown away because it’s soiled, torn or worse. Every single thing that comes to Re Told Recycling gets recycled. You can even send them torn clothing; they’ll sell it to rag makers.
The way it works is you order a bag from the company, stuff it with up to five pounds of clothing and ship it off to the company. They take care of the rest. The bags are postage pre-paid, so all you have to do is leave it out for the mailman. The bags cost money: a three pack costs $41.50, a 10 pack is $129.50 and a solo bag is $14.50. So far, they’ve kept 20 tons of textiles out of landfills. Now, they’d like a Shark to help them keep more out.
My Take on Re Told Recycling
When I first saw this, I said to myself “bah, I take my old clothes to the Salvation Army.” When I found out a lot of those get tossed anyway and that I could send in damaged clothes, I changed my tune. I view the bags as paying for convenience with the added bonus of helping the environment. I don’t have to schlepp down to the Salvation Army anymore!
I, like most people, never gave much thought about clothing going into landfills. It’s a big problem though. Each year, 11.3 million tons of clothes ends up in landfills. That’s a lot! This company is doing something about it and I like that. I’m in.
Will Sharks Recycle?
There’s no question all the Sharks will love the company’s mission, but will they like the business? There had better be some serious sales. Some simple math tells me they’ve sold 8000 bags. That equates to about $100,000 in sales since 2019. That’s not a number that gets the Sharks excited.
I think the only hope here is Emma Grede. If she feels some sort of philanthropic guilt about the apparel industry contributing to landfills, she may take a flyer. I simply can’t see the other Sharks going for this. It’s Emma or no deal here.
Entrepreneur, auteur, raconteur. Rob Merlino is a blogger and writer who enjoys the Shark Tank TV show and Hot Dogs. A father of five who freelances in a variety of publications, Rob has a stable of websites including Shark Tank Blog, Hot Dog Stories, Rob Merlino.com and more.
Speak Your Mind