Each year on November 15th, millions of people across the United States take part in America Recycles Day, which was created to promote and celebrate recycling. As an environmental steward for the past century, Goodwill has been a leader in the “reduce, reuse, recycle” movement and helped to keep millions of pounds of waste from area landfills every year.

America Recycles Day, which is now a program of Keep America Beautiful, was started in 1997 by the National Recycling Coalition. Thousands of events are held across the country to raise awareness about the importance of recycling and encouraging the signing of personal pledges committing community members to recycling and buying products made from recycled materials.

“As America Recycles Day approaches, I hope community members will make a commitment to reduce waste, recycle more, donate unwanted/gently used items to worthy nonprofits like Goodwill, and buy more products made with recycled content,” said James K Stiff, president of Goodwill of Middle Georgia and the CSRA.  “Future generations will thank you.”

According to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the recycling rate has increased from less than seven percent in 1960 to the current rate of 35 percent. However, Americans generate approximately 250 million tons of municipal solid waste every year – 30 percent of the world’s garbage. Items that are being discarded can be recycled or reused. Food waste can be composted. Shopping choices can also help reduce waste. Consumers can buy products that use less packaging, purchase goods made with recycled resources, and avoid disposable materials whenever possible.

America Recycles Day is the only nationally recognized day devoted to environmental citizenship and recycling. The benefits of recycling are tremendous: it reduces the amount of waste sent to landfills, prevents pollution, conserves natural resources, saves energy and money, and reduces greenhouse gasses. Unfortunately, while the EPA estimates that 75 percent of the American waste stream is recyclable, we only recycle about 30 percent of it.

Locally, Goodwill subsidizes its mission of changing lives and creating career opportunities through the sale of unwanted goods donated by community members. Every item that is donated to Goodwill helps to fund job training programs and services in communities throughout the local service area. Each year, thanks to Goodwill’s retail and salvage operations, the organization diverts more than 16 million pounds of unwanted items from area landfills.