Vermont Business Magazine This Earth Day, Friday April 22, Goodwill Northern New England is reducing waste by investing $1.5 million in new methods of storing and transporting clothing and household donations. For years, the nonprofit used big cardboard boxes and wooden pallets to move items, and large metal racks to store the boxes. Starting this week, Goodwill now will use much more sustainable materials that are safer for employees, waste less material, and save money by being so durable. Goodwill expects this sustainability project to pay for itself in less than three years.

Every single shirt donated to Goodwill goes into one of these cardboard boxes before hitting a sales floor the scope of this project is huge.

Our donation centers and warehouses use tens of thousands of these large cardboard boxes each year, said Kossi Gamedah, the Senior Vice President of Retail, Logistics, and Supply Chain Operations. This investment will improve the work environment for our teammates, and reduce our expenses and carbon footprint. By reducing expenses, we can invest more in Goodwills programs that help people achieve their life and work goals.

Goodwill Northern New England handles between 50 to 60 million pounds of donations every year, diverting those items from landfills in Maine, NewHampshire and Vermont. This new investment is part of Goodwills larger sustainability plan in its retail operations. In 2017, the nonprofit voluntarily banned single use plastic bags from its stores. In 2021, it upgraded its fleet of tractor trailers to reduce its carbon footprint.

Sustainability is a core value at Goodwill were all about reuse, after all.When we learned about a new, sustainable approach to meet our storage needs, it just made sense to try to do right by the Earth, our employees and the people who support our work through their donations by taking this greener path, said Rich Cantz, President and CEO of Goodwill NNE.

The nonprofit spent $500,000 a year to replace broken cardboard boxes and wood pallets. The boxes could not stack up very high, because they lose their shape and strength. The new materials stack high and without any shelving. The new materials stack together like Legos. This space savings means Goodwill can fill its trucks, which will reduce transportation emissions and costs. It also means warehouses and the sorting area in the back rooms of every Goodwill store will be safer and can hold more donations in these sturdier materials.

With this new approach, we can take full advantage of every inch of space in each of our trucks, Cantz said. Taking full advantage of our logistics process helps us meet our bottom-line values of helping people, planet and Goodwill's programs.

Goodwill is phasing in these changes. Any still-useful boxes and pallets will be used until theyve fulfilled their useful purpose.

Goodwill Northern New England is a nonprofit social enterprise in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. Revenue from its thrift stores support its mission to help people achieve independence and personal stability. Goodwill NNEs programs include workforce training programs, group homes that support adults with disabilities, active community supports for adults with disabilities, AmeriCorps programs and two business-cleaning services. Goodwill NNE operates two brain injury clinics to help people get back to their lives after a brain injury. For more information visitGoodwillNNE.org.

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Goodwill unboxes a huge investment in sustainability - Vermont Biz