Does thrifting help the environment?

From our commitment to sustainability and growth initiatives, which we continuously improve on each year. Goodwill diverts over 21,000,000 kilograms from landfills annually, and this number grows each year! This means that all items donated to Goodwill, 88% of all items will avoid going to the landfill. Thanks to our sustainability action plan and the consideration of Albertans we are able to continue to create an impact. You can learn about our sustainability initiatives, achievements, and financials through our Annual Report. Read more here.

First and foremost, it’s AMAZING. Our amazing Impact Centre is the central hub for all of our sustainability initiatives and outlet store. At this location, you can purchase last chance items by the pound, and a furniture store that has an abundance of pieces at low prices.

On top of our retail outlets, we house the Repair for Good program which upcycles broken and discarded furniture, we also sort, break down, and provide plastic to vendors who create new products, and our Goodwill @ Work team creates a variety of repurposed products such as cleaning cloths and crayons. Learn more about the Impact Centre and its programs, here.

We have launched an Impact Calculator to provide tangible numbers on the huge impact that repurposing and recycling your items can create. You can input the quantity of clothing, accessories, housewares, and furniture you plan to donate or have donated in the past to get a calculated score.

This score will show you the environmental effect by calculating the potential pounds of goods you have diverted from the landfills. You will also get a calculated number of hours that your donation has the potential to provide our mission’s programs and services used to place people with disabilities into new jobs & careers.  

Try out the Impact Calculator here.

You most certainly can! Goodwill has partnered with Quantum Lifecycle to provide electronics recycling across the province. This partnership allows us to accept your broken or unusable electronics, keeping them out of the landfills, and allowing you a safe and easy way to dispose of them.

Quantum Lifecycle is able to recycle items such as laptops, cellphones, tablets, various styles of TVs and monitors, printers, AV Equipment, stereo systems, and more.  

Thrifting helps the environment significantly. Both donating to Goodwill and buying used clothes and other items help to keep these goods from going to landfills. This results in less landfill waste and reduced pollution. Goodwill diverts more than 86% of all items donated from landfills. Therefore, thrifting to help the environment, with Goodwill means you are helping to reduce your community’s environmental footprint.

At the same time as helping the environment, donating and buying used goods at Goodwill helps people in your community with disabilities. Goodwill Alberta employs Albertans with disabilities and uses funds from its sales to support its mission. In fact, 90% of all revenues are used to help support this mission of helping Albertans with disabilities gain employment.

Goodwill is an eco-friendly organization that undertakes numerous environmental initiatives. 

First and foremost, Goodwill’s core business model helps to keep millions of kilograms of waste from reaching landfills each year. To do so, Goodwill accepts donations of used clothing and other household items which it sells to raise funds to support its mission of helping individuals with disabilities in Alberta, and across the world.

In addition to encouraging people to recycle their used items through donation, Goodwill focuses on reducing energy consumption from their operations. For example, Goodwill thrift stores use energy-efficient lighting and appliances and Goodwill Industries offsets energy use with renewable energy certificates. As a result of eco-friendly initiatives, Goodwills across the globe have won eco awards for environmental leadership.

Goodwill Industries of Alberta is dedicated to keeping items out of the landfill. Therefore, all unsold items at Goodwill are shipped to other locations, stores or businesses to be sold, repurposed or upcycled. 

For example, any donated item that is not sold at a Goodwill thrift shop is first taken to a Goodwill outlet. If the item isn't sold at the outlet at a discounted price, it is given a second life through the Goodwill Sustainability Action Plan.

Programs within Goodwill to reduce impact on the environment include the recycling repurposing and upcycling consist of:

• Plastics
• Glass & Ceramics
• Voltage adaptors
• Rollerblades
• Broken Pallets
• Suitcases
• Cigarette Waste
• Repair of broken furniture

If the item cannot be put through this program, it is sent to a textile recycler or another company that can transform it into new materials for alternative uses.

When Goodwill can’t sell donated clothes, they use various alternative options to keep the clothes from reaching the landfill. 

Luckily, clothing is easy to recycle or upcycle. If Goodwill can’t sell clothing donations in-store, on its online thrift store or at a Goodwill outlet, the clothes are often sold to a textile recycler or other salvage vendor.

These recyclers use the unsold clothing in various ways. For example, it may be cut up and used for different purposes or processed and recycled into a fibre filling for use in furniture or insulation. With the help of these alternative methods, Goodwill is able to keep millions of pounds of usable goods from reaching the landfill each year.

Most clothing and other donated items are successfully sold in Goodwill stores across Alberta, and internationally. With the help of other methods of selling and recycling, very little, if any, unsold clothing and other goods are thrown away.

To help keep clothing, household items and other used goods out of the landfill, Goodwill partners with local organizations to find alternative solutions. For example, Goodwill Alberta has a partnership with the University of Alberta that allows them to give clothing and household items left behind at residences a second chance.

As a result of being able to resell, repurpose or reuse nearly all items that are donated, Goodwill has an 86% diversion rate from local landfills and helps communities across the world minimize their environmental footprint. Goodwill’s sustainability practices divert over 19 million kilograms from landfills annually!