Our Commitment to Sustainability

Goodwill’s extra-effort approach to conservational responsibility

Widely recognized as a leader in reuse and recycling, Goodwill employs a broad range of operational practices to minimize our environmental impact of the tons of donated items we receive but cannot sell.

In 2022 alone, we kept over 56 million pounds of material out of landfills through thrift store sales, repurposing, and recycling.

Our proactive approach to recycling has generated over $20 million in revenues to help offset the costs of disposing of donated material that cannot be sold.

Saleable vs. Non-saleable

The nearly 150,000 pounds of donated materials that Goodwill receives every day can be divided broadly into two categories:

  • Saleable items that can be sold in our stores – such as apparel, housewares, books, shoes, etc. Saleable items that are not purchased after a few weeks on the sales floor are recycled.
  • Non-saleable items that  are not suitable for sale because they are damaged or do not meet our quality standards, including cardboard and scrap metals. Non-saleable materials are recycled immediately.

Over the past five years, our extra-effort approach to conservational responsibility has kept an estimated 460,000 cubic yards of material out of landfills, the equivalent of nearly 3,000 tractor trailer truck loads.

Goodwill Computer Donations

The Reconnect Pittsburgh alliance with Dell is a comprehensive computer recovery, reuse and environmentally responsible program that combines Goodwill’s donation and retail infrastructure with the recycling experience and resources of Dell. Goodwill collects donated computers and transfers selected equipment to a Dell product recovery partner with proceeds coming back to Goodwill. Proceeds support Goodwill’s job-training and education programs to help people improve their quality of life through work and related services.

About DELL RECONNECT.