Your “Green” Goodwill World Leader in Recycling Donations
March 30, 2010
Picture this:
- 21-million pounds of textiles
- 3.9 million pounds of books
- 2.8 million pounds of shoes
- 4.5 million pounds of TVs
- 1.4 million pounds of laptops
- 1.2 million pounds of cardboard
- 171,000 pounds of stuffed animals
- 540,000 pounds of scrap plastic
Last year more than two million residents of Oregon and SW Washington gave Goodwill Industries of the Columbia Willamette (GICW) more than 149-million pounds of donations; a world-wide record. And the great majority of what was not purchased by our many-million shoppers was recycled.
The above listing is just a small sampling of the more than 43 million pounds this charity kept out of area land fills in 2009. As many as 18-hours a day, seven days a week, aggressive recycling is taking place behind Goodwill Outlet retail floors in Milwaukie, Hillsboro, Salem and Vancouver. So successful is GICW -- it stands as a worldwide recycling leader among Goodwill systems. Last year, less than 16% of total donations ended up in the landfill.
We are Oregon’s number one participant of e-cycle and a strong participant of the Washington e-cycle program as well. Our 2009 combined contribution to Oregon and Washington e-cycle was nearly 7-million pounds of electronics. We take all electronics, working or not, at more than 90-donation drop off centers in NW OR and SW WA. Go to www.meetgoodwill.org for the site nearest you.
GICW places more than 92 cents of every dollar received through the sale of donations into its Job Service programs. In 2009 more than 27,000 individuals in Oregon and SW Washington with barriers to employment were served.
For more information please contact Dale Emanuel, Public Relations Representative at (503) 238-6138.