So you’ve cleaned out your closets and donated some of the clothing and household goods that you no longer need. Have you ever wondered what happens to these items when they don’t sell in a Goodwill® store?
I was so happy to tour the outlet store and recycling center of Goodwill Industries of the Chesapeake (a.k.a. “Baltimore Goodwill”) in March. I am always so inspired by the innovative and resourceful practices I witness in all of the Goodwill agencies I visit!
This Goodwill agency is like many others, in that once clothing has not sold in their regular stores, they send it to an outlet center where anyone can buy it by the pound, and furniture and other items are marked down as well. When it still doesn’t sell at the outlet pricing, it gets recycled and disposed of responsibly. In honor of Earth Day coming up this weekend, I am thrilled to share with you how they recycle, reuse, and repurpose donated items.
Here are some photos of clothing coming out of a baling machine, which will be sold to recyclers by the pound. (Click photos to enlarge) They recycle or repurpose almost everything that comes through, such as metal, cardboard, and even stuffed animals that are cleaned up and found a new home. This Baltimore recycling center alone diverts over 14 million pounds a year from landfills, and for Goodwill overall the total is over 2 billion pounds per year!
In addition, this Goodwill agency has a thriving book sales program, which is also located here at the recycling and outlet center. Donated books are scanned in and listed on Amazon as used books for sale. Each day they fulfill hundreds of orders from their inventory and mail them all over the country. Here are photos of the bins of books they go through daily and the shelves holding their inventory. (Click photos to enlarge)
Baltimore’s Dell Reconnect computer recycling program is also located here. Many people don’t realize that Dell and Goodwill have partnered in over 2600 dropoff locations across the United States to responsibly recycle computers, phones, monitors, and other electronics. You can find the nearest Reconnect donation center here.
Remember, on Earth Day and EVERY day, your donations provide not only green jobs for those who sort and manage these operations, but the revenue generated from these ventures supports training and placement programs for others in the community—veterans, people with disabilities, language barriers, transportation problems, criminal records, or child care problems—anyone with a challenge to finding employment. Every 42 seconds of every business day, a person served by Goodwill earns a good job, and this does not mean only in a Goodwill store. People are placed in all kinds of jobs throughout the community.
Click here to find your nearest Goodwill donation center. Click here to calculate the impact of your own donations, in minutes or hours of job training, resume preparation services, or career counseling. For example, ten CDs or DVDs = 50 minutes of a job search class!
THANK YOU so much to the awesome, smart, resourceful team at Goodwill Industries of the Chesapeake!
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Wow, thanks for sharing this. I always kind of wondered what happened at donation centers after things were dropped off.
My pleasure, Michaela! I love that even items which are not sold in the store are still recycled somehow. Goodwill has saved billions of pounds from landfills- check http://www.donate.goodwill.org for more details.