Goodwill Industries of Alberta accepts donations to sell at their thrift stores. They often receive donations of damaged or undesirable items that cannot be sold. Through their Goodwill@Work program, Goodwill established Cleaning Cloth and Repair for Good programs at their impact centre in Calgary. Both programs will upcycle and recycle items, thereby diverting material from landfills. In 2021, 6700 kg of textiles and 9500 kg of furniture were diverted from the landfill through these programs in Edmonton. This grant helped Goodwill replicate this successful program in Calgary.

The Environmental Impact Grant supported Goodwill Industries of Alberta’s expansion of the Goodwill@Work program into the newly built Calgary Impact Centre, modelled after the successful program running at the Edmonton Impact Centre for the past seven years. The main goals of this program were to both increase employment opportunities for Calgarians with disabilities and also increase the diversion rate of items going to landfills.

The expected increase in the diversion rate was achieved, as Calgary boosted its diversion rate to 88% thanks to the opening of the Impact Centre and the programs housed within it. The Cleaning Cloth and Repair for Good programs were key to this increase, as in the first year of this program, the Repair for Good program diverted 3,300kg of furniture from Calgary landfills, creating 165 new pieces for sale while providing volunteer opportunities for Calgarians with disabilities. Meanwhile, the Cleaning Cloth program, which cuts donated towels into uniform squares and packaging them to be re-sold as cleaning cloths, diverted 1363kgs of textiles from Calgary landfills while providing paid employment for four Calgarians with disabilities. Since the start of Goodwill@Work in Calgary, the program has created long-term, lasting change in recycling, upcycling and refurbishing furniture and textiles in Calgary while also providing job training and employment for Albertans with disabilities.

The impact of the Goodwill@Work program in Calgary can be seen through the eyes of the team, who have done meaningful work and enhanced their lives through the power of work. They were also able to witness the diversion of donated goods from landfills and, as part of the scale pathway, behavioural and social change in the community as they were made aware of the programs in Calgary. Goodwill has worked with six volunteers with disabilities through the Repair for Good program in Calgary since it started. One of the best success stories has been seeing one of the volunteers achieve paid employment through the Career Connections program after a couple of months of volunteering with Repair for Good. The employment and social skills learned through their time in the program were essential to both securing a job and successfully retaining it long-term.

To address the challenge of a circular economy, the issues of fast fashion and the disposable nature of our retail culture need to be at the forefront for residents of Alberta. The social and environmental benefits of programs such as Goodwill@Work need to continue to be marketed and promoted, and Goodwill’s next steps hopefully include the growth and expansion of such programs.