Sustainability

Sustainability at Goodwill

Goodwill of the Finger Lakes is committed to a sustainable future that strengthens the social, economic, and environmental wellbeing of our community and planet.

The Journey of Your Donations at Goodwill

In calendar year 2022, we diverted over 26 million pounds of goods from landfills. This process all starts with your donations!

Once your donations are initially sorted, they are put onto the sales floor of our retail stores. 90% of the money you spend shopping at Goodwill goes toward programs and services in the Rochester and Syracuse communities!

Items that are not sold in our stores either go to our Clearance Center, where items are sold by the pound as one last chance before they are recycled or are chosen for our Good Neighbor Program. The Good Neighbor Program partners with local schools and organizations to give necessary items like clothing, household goods, and winter coats to community members in need.

Once your items have gone through our stores and the clearance center, or have been chosen for the Good Neighbor Program, they are sorted, broken down, and bundled in our warehouse. This prepares the items to be distributed to partnering organizations that refurbish or recycle the materials. We do our best to make sure as much is recycled or reused as possible!

Thank you for supporting our mission, elevating people, community, and planet, by donating to Goodwill!

Apparel and shoes that is not sold in stores or in the Clearance Center is bundled and sold to aftermarket brokers.

This is the baler, or "Big Blue" as the warehouse employees call it, that compresses cardboard and clothing that goes to other organizations to reuse or recycle.

We work with local organizations to recycle electronics safely, like these system boards, which have been separated from their computers and will be further taken apart to recycle the metal wires inside.