Ep 33 - Sustainability, Shark Tank, and Success: A Conversation with Amelia Trumble, Co-Founder of Retold Recycling

 

In our latest podcast episode, we had the pleasure of speaking with Amelia Trumble, Co-Founder of Retold Recycling, about her journey toward creating a sustainable and environmentally-friendly business. Amelia's passion for recycling and waste management has led her to create a company that not only encourages people to recycle but also makes it accessible and enjoyable for everyone. We also discuss the impact of her appearance on the popular television show Shark Tank, where she was able to showcase her business and spread awareness about the importance of waste reduction and recycling. Join us for this inspiring conversation as we learn from Amelia's experiences and discover how we can all take small steps toward a more sustainable future.

You can listen right here, on Apple, Amazon, Spotify or you can read the transcription below. Enjoy!

 
 
 
 

An intro to Amelia & Retold Recycling

Carly: Thank you so much, Amelia, for being on the show today.

Amelia: Thank you. Thanks for having me.

Carly: I'm so excited that you're here and promised myself to try not to be a super creepy fan girl. You guys are the preferred vendor for all the things that we do in my business for textile recycling, and I feel like it's just one of those industries that not a lot of people know a ton about, so I'm really excited to have you here and to give us the information and kind of the inside scoop.

Amelia: Yeah, happy to chat through it all. Thank you so much again for inviting me.

Carly: Anytime. Okay, so for someone who hasn't learned about the magic of Retold Recycling, can you tell us who you are and what you do in the world?

Amelia: Yeah, for sure. My name's Amelia Trumbull. I'm one of the founders of Retold and I'm the CEO of the company now. Retold was really born out of creating a solution for unwanted textiles in your home. A few of us had gotten together and decided that we wanted to start a business.

What really underpinned that desire was to do something better for the world. So we weren't sure, was it gonna be a charitable thing? Was it gonna be something for animals or whatever the case may be? We landed on the environment, which really born out a pain point that I was having, which is being able to declutter my home and my closets in a sustainable way.

And then, powwow with my other co-founders, we all realized we had the same, similar pain points in our lives. Noel, who's one of our founding partners, had kids and she was always like, how do you do with all the hand downs and the stained kids' clothes that you can't get rid of?

Also, Alan had just moved and he was like, well, I had all of these sheets and everything that I was like freighting across the country. Like I could have really given them to a good home or things that I didn't really wanna keep, like what do I do with? And all of that came together to really form the nucleus of the idea for Retold.

When we launched it was the basis of it was really a bag-based program that, you know exists in your home. So you can order our bag products online from retoldrecycling.com and they show up in your house with about a pillowcase-size yellow bag. Bright yellow, can't miss it. And it comes with a prepaid label mailing label that's on the side.

So basically you can declutter your home of all of your unwanted clothing and textiles. So yes, like your old dog beds, the janky towel that you've used at the gym, every day for the last year, whatever it is. Solo socks, et cetera. And you can throw all of that in your Retold bag and seal it up, drop it in the post, and it'll come back to us.

And through our workflow with our recycling partners, our aim is that absolutely nothing will go to landfill. So that's really how Retold was born.

When you don’t want it to go to the landfill…

Carly: I love it so much and it's so helpful because there are a bunch of those items that come up all the time in linen closets. To your point, the old towels, I once did a linen closet with somebody where they had a really good system of taking the new towels and making them the old towels, and then the old towels became the rags.

They got to the rag stage, then it was like, and what now? And we had to really figure out, 'cause they were running outta space. But when we dug into it, we realized it was because they had like 80 rags.

 And they needed 10.

So it's kinda what do we do with the things that have we've gotten the life out of them. We've used them as much as we can, and it's time for them to go. But when you have that hesitation to put it in the trash because you don't want it to go into the landfill. I love that gap that you guys fill.

Amelia: Yeah, thank you. And I think that's a perfect example of where someone has had a bit of an aha moment in their home, as Oprah would say, aha moment, where they're like, I'm trying to do the right thing, but then after I've done that for a while, now what do I do with it?

Or I'm trying to do the right thing, but it's actually kind of hindering me in a way because it's cluttering up my home in another way. And I find that a lot with my daughter's clothes actually, where I'm like, I'll hold onto them, hand me downs, whatever the case may be. But actually, then I have like four tubs of hand-me-downs and I'm like, well, my friends aren't having kids at that faster rate.

Do you know what I mean? Like, you know, I'm sure I can, you know, find a way of getting these outta my home and being comfortable. So I think really, you know, one of the main things that we're focused on retold is really, you know, getting people to share that aha moment or the nucleus of where they realized that they needed a recycling service in their home and spreading the word about that.

Because really there are a lot of people out there who just haven't had that click in their brain yet that they need something like this. Mm-hmm. , you know, there are a lot of people out there who unfortunately are still throwing their old underpants in the. All those single socks, all the rags as you mentioned.

And we have a really super easy and convenient way to be very sustainable in your home and not, you know, pile up on landfill. So that's what we're all about. 

Set it & forget it!

Carly: Yeah. And to your point, it is so easy that, I mean, Just so you guys know, this isn't a paid plug. This is just how I feel about retold to the point where I'm stalking their co-founders

But not a paid plug. I love Retold so much that we started with the subscription model and you can get subscriptions in a lot of different sizes, so it's pretty customizable to your needs. You can get them sent to your house on a quarterly basis. There are all these different options. That's right.

We've moved away from that because we use it so often that it just makes sense for us to buy in bulk. Mm-hmm. , just the biggest bulk that you offer. We'll get it and then we will keep reordering pretty soon because once we are turning on our clients to it, we're using it very, very frequently We have it set up So if we're doing an in-home session with a client, then we will take those items away and essentially just kind of build them back for the price that we pay for. Mm-hmm. , the service. Mm-hmm. , right. But it works out really well. It's very convenient for folks. It's one last thing for them to think about, and then if they do wanna set it up for their home in the future, it's very easy. it's like a crockpot. You set it and you can forget it, but it comes when you need it so you have it on hand.

Amelia: Exactly, exactly. And you know, that convenience factor was a really big part of us setting up Retold because, you know, as I mentioned, I had been having this pain point about decluttering, decluttering my place, which is how the idea was born.

and I was, you know, Ubering bags of things to charity stores. I was, you know, trying to schlep parcels down to sell 'em, you know, and having to like FedEx them and whatever the case may be. Like, I just, frankly don't have time for that, nor the energy. Even though I was trying to do the right thing. So the fact that you can like, get everything sent to your home or have a, you know, a magic angel like yourself, like arrive and bring them with you.

Yeah. To have it all in your home and have that conveniently there ready when you need it was really what, you know, one of the core problems that we were trying to. And we also really love the idea of, as you said, you can order in bulk, you can get our 10-pack if you really want to get after a deep clean in your house.

And then if you don't use all of the bags, it's so easy to just have one sitting in your closet or your laundry room or, you know, I have like a little closet where my washing machine lives in my apartment and I just have a bag tucked in there. So when I find something random and or I've never got a stain out.

I'm like, you know what? I'm done with that. Now. I can't possibly stain removed one more time. Mm-hmm. , I'll just pop it in the Retold bag. So it's just super easy to have around the house. And then you can use it whenever suits you and then pop it in the post once it's full.

Carly: Yeah. We have them just to give people ideas for where it can be in your home.

Love the idea of it being in the laundry room, especially for those socks that the match is gone. The dryer ate it. It left. It's on a pilgrimage. It's gone forever.  we have to just like emotionally let it go.

Amelia: Pilgrimage. I love that. I'm gonna use that one. Yeah. 

Carly: So say you have a bin in your laundry area for just the things where you've pulled 'em out the wash or you know, you just realize that this has the life, the lifespan is done.

You can pop it into a bin. Bonus points if it's a clear bin. Keep your Retold bag in there, and then when the bin is filled up, then you're like, okay, boom. Just pop it all in the bag and then send it off. , that's essentially how we do it here, but, We have a couple of bins because it ends up being more.

Yeah. And then we just do it all at once. 

Amelia: Great. Love that.

Retold Recycling on Shark Tank

Carly: So I want to congratulate you on your recent Shark Tank appearance.

Amelia: Ah, thank you. Thank you. Yes. It's been a bit of a wild few weeks.

Carly: I have to say. Yeah. Can you tell us about that? If folks missed the episode, can you tell us, you know, how it was to be on the show and the end result of it, which I know

Amelia: Yes, yes.

yes. Yeah, so we filmed an episode of Shark Tank last year actually, and it just aired back in February. So if you wanna search for, Episode 14 of season 14. Easy to remember. And if you have Hulu, you can get it on Hulu or if you actually jump on retold recycling.com, we've got links to where you can watch clips from YouTube as well.

But yeah, we, you know, obviously, like we were very open to the process and you never know, like right up until the 11th hour, whether you're gonna get through for filming or whether your episode's gonna air. And honestly, I feel like we've just been so lucky throughout the whole process. Like we were assigned the most amazing production team to work with, who shepherded us through all of the preparation, you know, scripting our pitch.

Getting us ready for actually going into the Tank. And then obviously, you know, being in the Tank was very scary and probably 30 minutes of my life that I don't really wanna redo. But we had an amazing outcome because right at the end of, you know, our experience there, the amazing Mark Cuban offered us a deal. After I tried to negotiate slightly, which was probably dumb on my part, he ended up accepting. So now we're working with Mark and his team and they've just been absolutely amazing so far and super supportive. So really, you know, that's all kind of converged with. In February and it's just been a wild ride.

Like, we're just so stoked that the word is out there about Retold in such a grand way now. And yes, we have so many people coming onto our site to buy the bags, which we love. But also just the sheer number of companies that have approached us to say, you know, Hey, how can we work together? Can I sell your bags for you?

We wanna help you with your mission. And just the general good vibes like can't be beaten. So I think we're actually very, very lucky with our experience and, you know, hopefully, it's just a springboard for us to take retold to a whole nother level.

Retold Recycling on Shark Tank. Photo courtesy of @retoldrecycling on Instagram

Carly: That's amazing. I'm so happy for you. Thank you. You know that I was already following you guys on Instagram.

Saw the email come through. I'm on your list. Like, so I was just absolutely thrilled because it really is the next stage for you guys. I'm so happy.

Amelia: Yeah, thank you. I think one of the amazing takeaways, honestly, is how supportive all of the back-of-house production teams were of a sustainable business.

And then obviously once we got in the Tank, how positive all of the Sharks were, whether they wanted to invest or not. And you know, I won't hold that against them, the ones that turned us down, but they all totally understood our mission. And really believed in what we were trying to do. But Mark was the one who really connected the dots around how, you know, loved our mission, but could see the commercial future for us.

You know, he's a billionaire for a reason. , he's clearly a really smart guy. Yeah. So he just picked up on it and, you know, honestly, a lot of the ideas that he was riffing on in the Tank, which are not shown in the episode are things that we've always wanted to do. So there. You know, such a seamless synergy between his ideas and ours, and it totally just made sense.

So very, very excited to have like such a big platform for our sustainable business, which is super exciting. Amazing.

The textile recycling journey

Carly: Amazing. I wanted to shift gears a little bit and talk about kind of the journey that the actual textiles take. Mm-hmm. Because I think that's something a lot of people might not know about or know is an option. I think that it's endlessly interesting because it's not just a seamless route like going to Retold, then going to another place.

There are a lot of different paths that things items can take. Would you mind telling us a little bit about that journey, about, where the textiles go and who they help?

Amelia: Yeah, for sure. So honestly, it depends on where you are when you're sending your bag in, because now we've expanded and we actually have hubs across the country.

So your bag will leave your home and we work with a slow freight provider, and they basically take your bag with USPS. So that was very important to us, that we didn't really wanna be adding additional mail routes or running our own trucks or anything like that to add carbon emissions.

So we piggyback off existing routes and then they go to one of our sorting facilities with our recycling partner. So at whatever hub is closest to you the items are sorted, so your bags are ripped open, they're sorted, and anything that can be resold gets moved into one area effectively. And then that's moved on to thrift stores. 

So our recycling partner has their own network of thrift stores and you know, they immediately clear those items. Anything that cannot be resold is then it sort of then goes into basically a marketplace and other companies can buy into the items for their own production process.

So, rag companies who need clean, generally undyed, certain types of fabrications they can buy into items and take them for their rag process, which are used in a lot of, you know, hospitals or hospitality. And then there are other partners who can also buy into that. So in some cases, it can actually be donation centers or other charities might buy in because they see items, you know, through these handlers that they can actually resell at a profit.

They can also go to you know, other companies who will repurpose the items into something else. So upcycling in a way, you know, whether it's like quilts or whatever the case may be. And then there's also the down cycler process which will break everything down into a pulp, which in the industry is called shoddy.

And that becomes a variety of different things these days. So it could be, you know, the inside of your car seat. It could be insulation, you know, it could be, you know, mattresses, you know, inside of mattresses or, you know, lower income housing. You know, there's a whole variety of ways in which those items are.

So the important thing to know, which a lot of people don't understand, is that there's money that kind of changes its hands once it gets into that recycling stream. And the great thing is that because everyone's buying into that effectively they're incentivized not to throw anything away because they're basically throwing away their own cash.

So it's a little bit of a safety net that we have. While we trust our partner and we've looked under the hood with them, you know, we've filmed at their locations, we've seen what's been going on. We also know the downstream partners because there is cash-changing hands. You know, that they're gonna be maximizing their investment and making sure that nothing goes to landfills.

And, you know, they get, they're obviously their end goal out of it themselves. Mm-hmm. So that's a little bit of what happens behind the scenes. I'm not sure if you had more questions or if you want to extrapolate on any of that. 

The cost of not recycling

Carly: Yeah, no, it's really cool. And I think that answers a lot of questions and gives people an idea of the different methods or ways that these items can be given another life. Mm-hmm. And the fact that it is so varied, I think is amazing. Another thing that I think is really great and. and I'll be honest, I know I put this in the notes, but when I'm working with clients, my clients tend to fall into two camps. Those that say like, why should I pay for that?

And those who are like, I really wanna keep that out of the landfill, this is worth it. Mm-hmm. , thank you. And on my end, I'm like, my, my job isn't to, you know, Pass judgment about the decisions, but just kind of facilitate what they need. But to go back to the cost, logistically speaking, I know how much you guys are doing on the back end for what ends up being a very small fee.

When you're thinking about the shipping involved, the sorting, the moving, can you speak a lot a little bit into like how you. Are able to make that happen for such a low price.

Amelia: Yeah, I mean, thank you so much for shedding light on that, to be honest, because I think it is important to talk about a lot even in the Tank.

You know, some of the Sharks were saying, I think you should be a nonprofit. Well, we are a for-profit business, like, you know, we're obviously trying to grow and, you know, we're mission-driven, so we're trying to get the word out about doing the right thing. But yes we're trying to make a little bit of money along the way to fuel our business and keep growing.

So yeah, absolutely. There are a lot of costs that are involved around freight in particular, and anyone who runs a business that has a freight component right now will understand that the cost of that has gone exponentially in the last year. And then, yeah, with our recycling partner, like honestly you know, they have humans that are sorting every single Retold bag by hand and then packaging up those items to go to the different streams that I just mentioned.

So there is a lot of like, hands-on involvement and obviously that, you know, those people. You know, get paid their salary, et cetera. So, you know, that's just a couple of touchpoints that are in the mix. And to be candid with you, when we were setting up retold, there were a lot of companies who we approached to say, Hey, would you partner with us on this recycling startup?

You know, here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna send you these yellow bags in the post, like a one-off, and we need you to gather them and then go through them and sort them. And they're like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, that's great. Yep, yep. Sure. And then when we came back around and we're like, okay, we're ready to do a beta with you and test this out.

They're like, well, hang on a second, but you are gonna presort everything, right? I will get a yellow bag for jeans and then a yellow bag for white t-shirts and whatever. And we're like, oh, no. And then we would talk through the financials for them. You know, it, a lot of it didn't make sense, so it really took us a long time to find the right recycling partner where the economics would make sense cuz they already had a lot of established processes that we were just piggybacking off as opposed to getting another company to rewire what they were doing to fold us in effectively.

So that's honestly a lot of the reason why we can make it work is that we managed to find the right partner who we also love working with, and they are also such a champion for Retold and let us test crazy ideas and do things that are unconventional in the recycling industry, such as sending mixed bags of things through the post and then having to manually go through them and sort them.

So yeah, there is a lot of complexity there, but obviously, you know, we're all about our mission and trying to get people to keep those items out of the landfill. So we don't wanna make the price prohibitive. So we try and keep things as lean and mean as we can, but obviously still making a little bit of profit behind the scenes.

And I guess the only other thing I would say is, Of course, there are people who don't see the value in putting things in a bag, or they already have a very established resale process for themselves. Like I personally sell some items on different websites that I know I can make money back off.

I also, you know, have a practice of things that I think are really good quality that, as I said, I will hand me down to friends or maybe some things I think would be great to a charity store, and so I can get rid of those. But for me, it's the convenience of being able to put everything else. Or if I really don't have time, just put everything into my Retold bags and send them off. And for people who really don't see the value at all, my question would be, you know, what are you doing with your old underpants or the bra where the underwires come out? Or that skanky t-shirt that you have worn to the gym many, many times, you know, you've gotta get rid of that.

And frankly, It's irresponsible to try and give that to a charity store cause it's just gonna be a burden for them. And frankly, no one else wants that stuff. So please, please, please don't put it in a landfill and just try getting a Retold bag for $14.50. And even if you're just putting those odds and ends in, it'll last you a while and I think you'll see the value.

Carly: What happens when we don't recycle our textiles? that's the flip side of the coin, right?

Sure, we can just toss them. But then what happens after that? Because we've got a climate crisis on our hands.

Amelia: Totally. Yeah. It's emissions. It's the sheer space of the landfills encroaching on us effectively. You know, it's the soil, you know, it impacts the environment in so many different ways and ways in which I think, you know, science is still actually understanding now.

When you have a massive landfill problem, that's on the back end of the problem, you know? You know, you also then really need to think about sort of what's happening on the production side upfront as well. Because if you are ignoring landfill, then you're likely also ignoring some bad practices on the front end.

And all of that combined is just a bit of a mess in the textile industry, to be honest. And the great news is there are a lot of companies out there that are really starting to be very responsible and very passionate about doing things in an eco-friendly way, which is awesome.

 
 

But yeah, unfortunately, we still have a humongous problem with millions and millions of tons of clothing alone being dumped in landfills every year. So it's a huge opportunity for us to do the right thing and at least give items a second life. Just try and use things one more time in a different capacity or send them to us and we can do that for you, which would be a dramatic help.

How to start an easy recycling practice

Carly: I love it so much. Before I let you go today, do you have any final thoughts for our listeners that you would like to make sure that they know about you or Retold or your mission?

Amelia: Yeah, I mean, we've always got so much educational information on our Instagram, so definitely check us out at Retold Recycling on IG or come on our website. We're always up for a chat in DMs. Or you can use the chatbot that's on our website if you'd like to get more information. We love when customers want to, we call it looking under the hood when they want to really dive deep on sort of what we are doing with things and what the opportunities are.

So, Yeah, please interact with us. We're here to help. And you know, the final words that I just say is that it's actually very, very easy to start a recycling practice. And I love so much that you do that with your clients and just introduce it in a very low-key way in that you can just have this bag simply in your home.

And you might just, like you said, start with rags or you can start with your old undies and feel good about yourself that you've diverted those items from landfill. So I just would love to see everyone jump on Retold and order even just a solo bag for $14.50 and start there and start doing the right thing for the environment.

Carly: I love it, and I'm gonna tell you guys, the bags are bright, they're beautiful, they're fun. It's easy. The subscription service is amazing. And as somebody who had to cancel their subscription, so then I could go to the bulk purchases, I can stay confident that the customer service team is very easy to work with, very responsive, and just a wonderful group

 
 

Amelia: Oh, thank you so much. I'd love to hear that. Yes, we're very passionate about our customer service, even though we're a very lean and mean team. Mm-hmm. And we have had a lot of customer service inbounds because of Shark Tank. So bear with us. But yes, we aim to please and you know, if you need any help at all, you can always get in touch.

Carly: Amazing. We will absolutely have your website and your Instagram in the show notes too. So be sure to check that out. And if you have any questions if you're listening to this episode and you want to hear me rant even more about how much I love Retold, feel free to reach out because I'm happy to.

Amelia: I love that. I love that. Maybe we'll just need to get a quote from you and just like pop it on the homepage. We'll just like broadcast, feel like you're our number one advocate. Love it. I'm in. Carly, you're the best.

Carly: Thank you so much for coming, Amelia, I really appreciate you being on the show today.

Amelia: Ah, thank you so much.

And again, thank you for your passion for Retold. You are amazing. Thank you. 

The awesome team from Retold Recycling has given our listeners a special discount, so head to retoldrecycling.com and use TidyRevival10 to get 10% off of your order. Thanks so much to the Retold team for this special offer.

Thank you for tuning in today. If you want to learn more about how I can help you, please head to Tidy Revival dot com to learn more about how I work with people one-on-one or in our Clutter-Free Home Process private community. If you enjoyed this episode, please be sure to subscribe so you'll always have access to the latest episode.

We would love to hear your takeaways! Feel free to tag us at Tidy Revival on Instagram, Facebook, or TikTok. The Tidy Revival podcast is written and hosted by me, Carly Adams, and edited by Brittany McLean. Title Song Maverick is by Dresden The Flamingo.

Until next time, remember that…


 
 
 

Links mentioned in this episode

 
 
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