Goodwill to Recycle Unwanted Items in Celebration of America Recycles Day
Phoenix, Ariz.—All across the country, individuals and organizations are striving to “go green” and recycle items for the good of the environment. For Goodwill of Central Arizona, being green has been an integral part of the organization’s 60-year history.
Though known worldwide as a leading thrift store and human services provider, Goodwill is also one of Arizona’s first recyclers. In 2006, Goodwill of Central Arizona recycled approximately 73 million pounds of clothing and household goods. By accepting household donations for reuse and repurposing – Goodwill keeps items out of landfills and puts them into the hands of those who can use them. Goodwill has received two awards from Valley Forward for environmental stewardship.
“Most people know that Goodwill offers unique thrift shopping from community donations, but they don’t know that we recycle 100 million pounds of donated goods every year,” said Dianne Hanson, President and CEO of Goodwill of Central Arizona. “Donating to Goodwill not only serves Arizona’s communities by helping us fund our job skills programs, but it helps protect the environment too. Goods that would be thrown away are repurposed in new homes.”
At Goodwill, nothing is wasted. Items not sold through thrift stores or clearance centers are sorted, packaged and sold in bulk to community partners for use in car wash businesses, third world export and much more. Metal products not sold in retail stores are sold as scrap metal for pennies per pound and are then melted down to make other products or disassembled for spare parts.
Donating to Goodwill is both easy community service and an effective way to recycle unwanted items. The profit from the sale of donated items is filtered back into the community through Goodwill’s various skills training and job placement programs.
