The average American produces 5 pounds of trash a day. Multiply that by the 340 million Americans currently alive and, well, you do the math – we’re too busy wondering when room for more landfills will run out.

The good news is that there are new companies tackling this problem. Their goal is to reduce our trash in environmentally friendly ways. In Denver, for example, consumers can enlist the help of companies like Ridwell and The Happy Beetle.

These two organizations work basically the same: They list the types of items they accept on their websites. Consumers pay a fee for the company to pick up those items from their doorstep on a chosen schedule (the companies offer different time frames, such as every two weeks, once a month, etc.) After pick up, the organization makes sure those items get to places that can use them.

For example, Ridwell sends bottle caps to a group that offers art classes to children. The Happy Beetle gives old bicycle tubes to a company that remakes them into colorful backpacks, belts and more, and sends plastic bags to Trex, which uses them to make their products.

Ridwell notes that its members “save tons from the landfill every year to support our community, keep our oceans clean and build a brighter future.”

Now that’s math we can get behind.