On April 22, people all over the globe will celebrate Earth Day, demonstrating support for environmental protection. With overconsumption, population growth and pollution at an all-time high, it’s more important now than ever for people and businesses to do what they can to protect our planet.

 

At Goodwill, we consider ourselves to be one of the original recyclers, allowing people to bring us their gently-used items to have continued life through our shoppers. Our simple process helps us keep 42 million pounds of stuff out of landfills every year, while also funding critical job skills training, certifications, and other support services for thousands in our community.

 

This year we’re making an even more concerted effort to continue to protect the environment.

 

Effective April 1, our stores will have eliminated single-use plastic shopping bags. Plastic bags can take up to 500 years to decompose. By eliminating this as an option for our shoppers, we will greatly reduce our impact on the plant. Shoppers can bring their own bags or purchase reusable bags at any of our locations.

 

In addition, we are growing our electronics recycling program. For over 10 years, we have partnered with Dell through their Reconnect program to ensure everything from phones to laptops to printers gets recycled. Now we are refurbishing some of those items, clearing them of all data, and selling them in stores and online, while continuing to send anything that we cannot refurbish to Dell for recycling.

 

We continue to recycle glass out of one of our facilities as a pilot program, and have hopes of expanding that in the very near future. We’ve been having discussions with several potential partners to find a sustainable outlet for our glass and ceramics, which make up a significant portion of our waste.

 

We are in continued conversations with a textile recycler who can utilize our unsold or unsellable clothing to recycle into new fabrics. Americans throw away an average of 82 pounds of clothes a year, and less than 85% of textiles get recycled. As people continue to purchase clothing at exponential rates, we must have a sustainable solution to reduce the impact of textiles on the environment.

 

Finally, we are in discussion with a battery recycler to determine the feasibility of collecting and sending lithium ion batteries, which they will use to re-manufacture into new batteries.

 

At Goodwill, we offer so many ways to recycle gently used items. Our overarching goal is to continue to reduce the environmental impact we have in our communities and the planet overall. As sustainability is one of three pillars in our strategic plan, we will continue to seek opportunities and partnerships to increase environmental sustainability efforts.

 

This Earth Day, we challenge people everywhere to find a way to make a positive impact on the environment. Maybe that could be finding your way to a Goodwill donation center with a bag or two of stuff for us to resell or recycle. That seemingly small act creates a ripple effect of goodwill – both supporting someone’s career journey and protecting our planet for the next generation.