She rescues useful items from her neighbors’ trash, and the internet can’t get enough
It’s Sunday afternoon and Claudia von Mallinckrodt is driving very slowly around her suburban Chicago neighborhood, eyes scanning the curb. It’s the day before trash pick-up, and for von Mallinckrodt, that means opportunity.
Since early 2025, the 35-year-old has been documenting what she finds on trash day on social media. Her account, “The Rich Goodwill,” has grown to over 650,000 followers on Instagram, and another 250,000 on TikTok, by taking viewers along as she digs through her neighbors’ trash.
She has found everything from a West Elm chandelier (now hanging in her kitchen) to a designer purse worth more than $1,000. (She had it repaired for just $6.)
Unlike most social media influencers, who encourage people to buy what they endorse (and often make a commission on it), von Mallinckrodt offers what she finds to her followers for free. Her goal is simply to keep things of value out of the landfill.
She has “rehomed” everything from baby gear to furniture. “People message me for items all the time. There are a lot of people struggling to make ends meet,” she says, adding that she wishes people would think twice before throwing something away. “Even though you’re done with it, someone else might really need it.”
Her perspective is shaped by experience. Von Mallinckrodt grew up in a wealthy family that lost everything when her father’s business collapsed and her childhood home burned down. Her family went from living in a seven-bedroom home to shopping at the local food pantry. “That stays with you,” von Mallinckrodt says.
Her trash day finds are also representative of a larger problem: Every year, Americans throw away millions of tons of usable furniture, textiles and household items.
These items end up in landfills, which harm the environment by contaminating soil and water, destroying habitats, and releasing greenhouse gases in addition to toxics like benzene and toluene.
But there’s something everyone can do to help solve the problem: Keep usable items out of the trash.
“It’s always going to be most sustainable to use what already exists,” von Mallinckrodt says. “I recently grabbed a Little Tykes basketball hoop right out of the garbage man’s hand, and my kids love it.”
