Pack Rats Rejoice! Get ‘Kash’ for Your Trash

We all dread “dealing” with the clutter – that treadmill shoved into the corner of your garage, the working television that has been cast out thanks to a new 50-inch flat screen or that bridesmaid’s dress you’ll never wear again.

Thanks to a new partnership between RecycleBank and Kashless.org, one of the world’s largest free online marketplace and community, now your old stuff has a new place to land.

Powered by RecycleBank, “Kashless Rewards” provides incentives to people who honor the middle sister of the recycling trio: reuse.

It's not trash! Turn your clutter into something valuable with a simple click of your mouse. Photo: Flickr/Pinkpollyanna

Effective last week, post or pick up any quality second-hand item on Kashless.org and earn rewards points, redeemable for gift cards, travel discounts, apparel and more at hundreds of local and national RecycleBank partnering retailers.

“Think of Kashless as eBay with no money changing hands,”  described the Seattle Post-Intelligencer of the new venture earlier this year.

The site, similar to a Craigslist for free items, incorporates more Web 2.0-style features including advanced search options, applications to Facebook and Twitter and program-participation tracking.

“RecycleBank started by rewarding people for recycling and we are excited by the opportunity to now extend our rewards program to reward people for the reuse of goods,” said Ron Gonen, co-founder and CEO of RecycleBank.

Extending RecycleBank’s belief of creating economic value with environmentally smart actions to the online reuse community seems a logical fit, notably in a time when economic incentives are the driving force of many. Next time that daunting task of cleaning out the garage or storage closet appears on your to-do list, remember that a gift card to your favorite restaurant or online retailer may be lurking in all that treasure.