Computer refurbishing
Goodwill diverts more than 2 million pounds of computers and electronics from landfill each year.

Be kind to the environment: How you can help

By Tim Murray
SF Goodwill

You recycle. You compost. But do you spread Goodwill? Spreading Goodwill starts by donating your gently used goods to us. You lighten your load and keep reusable stuff from landing in the landfill.

We don’t just sell the stuff you donate. We plow the money we earn in our stores into job creation, including next-gen green jobs, for people with barriers to employment.

Like our ReCompute business. Your old laptop goes into our computer workshop, where technicians refurbish it while learning new skills, responsibly recycling the unusable parts. By selling rebuilt computers instead of trashing them, we removed the carbon equivalent of almost 500 cars from our roads last year while providing training in green jobs. And this “e-cycling” business continues to grow tax-paying jobs for people formerly in poverty. Spreading Goodwill indeed.

Selling your donated goods also supports computer training, resume writing and other life-transforming skills in higher demand than ever. Goodwill spread from your donations serves more than 7,000 people in Marin, San Mateo and San Francisco counties a year — making Goodwill Industries a major economic engine of the Bay Area.

And it all starts with the stuff you donate. So spread some Goodwill, will you?

How we’re helping the Bay Area go green

Goodwill also offers classroom learning, real-world training, computer literacy and more to thousands of Bay Area folks every year — transforming their lives and our community.

Altogether, each year Goodwill:

Reuses, resells and recycles more than 75 percent of the goods donated to us.
Provides career services to nearly 1,000 individuals, while employing more than 500 people in Goodwill’s businesses.
Responsibly recycles more than 7,000 tons of electronics and computers, textiles, paper, cardboard, shoes, books, metals and plastics.
Replaces 12,000 gallons of diesel fuel with biodiesel by using a 20-percent biodiesel blend in our fleet of 17 commercial trucks.
Conserves valuable natural resources through extensive energy, water and paper conservation programs at all of our facilities.

We have more environmental initiatives in the works for the next year, including:

Applying for Green Business Certification in San Francisco and Marin counties.
Using cutting edge green building principles in remodeling our operations warehouse and other facilities.
Launching the first phase of a zero waste strategy.
Refurbishing twice as many computers to distribute to disadvantaged residents of San Francisco as part of the city’s Digital Inclusion initiative.