At Goodwill of Central Iowa, we are driven by a mission that empowers everyone to reach their full potential. By supporting us, you, too, become a part of this empowering journey. We believe in the power of purposeful employment and are committed to breaking down barriers that stand in the way. Our Retail and Warehouse Skills Training, Day Services, and Supported Employment Program are designed to empower individuals, fueling their journey towards achieving their goals.
Our commitment doesn’t stop at our community. We’re also dedicated to protecting our planet through responsible recycling initiatives to reduce our community’s impact on local landfills. By standing with us, you are making a difference.
Discover all that Goodwill does behind the scenes to make our community a great place to live and prosper.
Don’t Dispose, Donate!
One area of our recycling efforts is electronic waste, also known as e-waste. E-waste is a growing problem in our society. As technology advances, we are constantly upgrading our devices, leaving old ones to pile up in landfills. These discarded electronics can be harmful to the environment, as they often contain toxic chemicals that can seep into the soil and water supply. But you can make a difference. At Goodwill, we accept e-waste donations and work with certified recycling partners to ensure that these electronics are disposed of responsibly. By recycling e-waste with us, you are not only protecting our planet but also creating job opportunities in the recycling industry. Find out what items we accept here. Plus, we work with area businesses to responsibly recycle their items when they update office equipment and furniture!
Let’s Promote Sustainable Fashion
Fast fashion is a popular trend that encourages consumers to buy inexpensive clothing items that are often only worn a few times before being discarded. This fast-paced cycle of consumption is harmful to the environment, as it contributes to the overproduction of clothing and the accumulation of textile waste in landfills. At Goodwill, we encourage our customers to shop second-hand and extend the life of clothing items through proper care. We also accept clothing donations and work to divert these items from landfills by selling them in our stores or recycling them through our salvage process.
The Goodwill Donation Cycle
At Goodwill of Central Iowa, our mission is to make purposeful employment possible for all Iowans. To achieve this, we rely on donations from generous individuals like you. Once we receive donations, our production assistants sort them, price them, and usher them to the sales floor in one of our 13 locations in central Iowa. After 4 weeks, we rotate our inventory and move any unsold clothing to our outlet location, where customers can buy textile items by the pound. Unsold or damaged clothing items are returned to our Johnston warehouse, where they are sorted, baled, and sold for salvage. Through this process of resale, recycling, and salvage, we are able to ensure the impact of each and every generous donation from our community is maximized!
We accept shoes, books, belts, plastic, metal, and other broken or nonworking electronics, in addition to clothes. Damaged or unsold items are sorted for salvage. In 2023, we were able to salvage 8,816,774 pounds of material, including plastic, metals, textiles, and cardboard, among others. Across the entire Goodwill donation lifecycle, we divert over 18 million pounds of material from local landfills. To put it in perspective, that’s equivalent to the waste produced by the entire town of Pella, Iowa, in a year!
Goodwill Tag Your Bag!
Will you accept the challenge?
At Goodwill of Central Iowa, we believe in a future where every thread counts; one person’s trash can become another’s treasure, and just because something is old, it doesn’t mean it isn’t still full of life. That’s why this April, Goodwill of Central Iowa is transforming our community’s textiles into hope for a greener tomorrow.
So don’t throw out those ripped jeans, tattered towels, or holey sheets—bring them to Goodwill this April! By accepting the Tag Your Bag Challenge, you can help us reach our goal of collecting 100,000 pounds of textiles!
