Mattresses & Box Springs
While many Goodwill stores can accept bedsheets, blankets and other linens, many locations do not accept mattresses and box springs. Their size, among other factors, make it too difficult to manage and sell them in their stores.
Always call your local Goodwill before dropping off a mattress or box spring, and if they cannot take it, find another way to get rid of it.
How to Donate or Recycle These Items
- Check out our mattress disposal guide for a full breakdown of donation, disposal and recycling options for your old mattress.
Knowing what not to donate to Goodwill is not a new dilemma.
Ive found several articles from as far back as the 70s that address this exact topic, trying to educate people to not dump unusable items at Goodwill. Were hoping that by getting the word out and educating the public on what constitutes a good donation, well have less and less of that.
Jessica Hudgins Smith | PR & Digital Media Manager, Goodwill Industries of Denver
What Will Goodwill Accept
Before we get to our list of items you are welcome to donate, a quick word on our general requirements.
Goodwill of Greater Washington accepts a wide range of items, but as these items need to be sold to our customers we, unfortunately, cannot accept items that are broken, damaged or soiled. Certain large items are also likely to be refused. So please review the list below and once again, we sincerely thank you for even considering donating items to our cause. People like you help to keep our organization and programs running, which in turn benefits the community.
Recalled Or Unsafe Items
If your house has permanently upgraded to big kid beds, you might be thinking of donating the old crib. But if it has been recalled or is no longer compliant with the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commissions current safety standards, it is illegal to sell or donate it. For this reason, do not donate any expired or recalled cribs, car seats, helmets, walkers and high chairs. See if your item has been recalled before dropping it at your nearest Goodwill.
Also, if a helmet or car seat has previously been involved in a crash, it might not be as safe or reliable as it was before the accident. It should not be donated or used again, no matter how minor the crash was.
How to Donate or Recycle These Items
- If they cant take it, get creative with these 19 ways to repurpose a crib.
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Where Is The Best Place To Sell Your Clothes
Here are some options for online consignment and secondhand stores for you to sell used clothes.
- thredUp. Tradesy. Poshmark. Le Prix.
- VarageSale. eBay. Your Instagram account.
- Take lots of high-quality photos. Set a realistic price. Label the brand, color and size.
- Clothes Mentor. Buffalo Exchange. Uptown Cheapskate. Platos Closet.
Can You Donate Bras To Goodwill
Though donation guidelines vary by location, some may accept and sell clean, gently worn bras in their stores. Contact your local Goodwill to see if bras are an approved item are on their list. Post a message on social media asking for donations, then handle the collection and drop-off at a local shelter.
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Can A Bad Pillow Cause Lower Back Pain
Can a bad pillow cause lower back pain? An important, and often overlooked, part of mattress comfort is the pillow. A poor fit can strain your neck and throw off alignment, contributing to back pain.
Can a bad pillow hurt your lower back? The wrong pillow can worsen back pain, making it essential for sleepers with back pain to choose their pillows wisely. The wrong pillow will provide inadequate support, placing the head and neck at an uncomfortable angle.
How should I sleep with lower back pain? The best sleeping position for lower back pain is on your side with a partial bend in the knees7. Keeping the knees bent helps balance the body and reduces pressure on the lumbar spine. Many people find it helpful to put a small pillow between their knees to make this position more comfortable.
Can Sleep Position cause lower back pain? Some sleep positions can put added pressure on your neck, shoulders, hips, lower back, knees, and even your heels, all of which can lead to pain, Thomas says.
What Is The Impact Centre
First and foremost, its AMAZING. Our amazing Impact Centre is the central hub for all of our sustainability initiatives and commercial service teams. With this location, we are able to provide an outlet store where you can purchase last chance items by the pound, and a furniture store that has an abundance of pieces at low prices.
On top of our retail outlets, we house the Repair for Good program which upcycles broken and discarded furniture, we also sort, break down, and provide plastic to vendors who create new products, and our commercial services team creates a variety of repurposed products such as cleaning cloths and crayons. Learn more about the Impact Centre and its programs, here.
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Can I Donate Underwear To Goodwill In Alberta
Underwear that is new or gently used can be donated to Goodwill in Alberta. The underwear should be clean, dry and in good condition when they are donated.
Depending on the condition of the undergarments, they may be sold or recycled. For example, if the underwear is damaged or not suitable for resale, it may be sent to a textile recycler. The recycler will turn the material into wiping rags, upholstery stuffing or fibre recycling.
Even if you have articles of clothing, including underwear, that are ripped or damaged, consider bringing them to a local Goodwill donation center. By donating these items, they can be put to good use instead of being added to the landfill. If youre in or near Calgary, the City of Calgary Throw n Go is another location where donations can be dropped off. All items donated at this location are organized by Goodwill Alberta.
Does Thrifting Help The Environment
Thrifting helps the environment significantly. Both donating to Goodwill and buying used clothes and other items help to keep these goods from going to landfills. This results in less landfill waste and reduced pollution. Therefore, thrifting to help the environment, with Goodwill means you are helping to reduce your communitys environmental footprint.
At the same time as helping the environment, donating and buying used goods at Goodwill helps people in your community with disabilities. Goodwill Alberta employs Albertans with disabilities and uses funds from its sales to support its mission. In fact, 89.2% of all revenues are used to help support this mission of helping Albertans with disabilities gain employment.
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Does Goodwill Take Bedding
4.6/5Goodwillacceptblanketslinensdoaccept mattressesanswered comprehensively
Domestics: linens, curtains, blankets, etc. Electronics: Stereos, radios, VCRs, DVD players, etc. Furniture: dressers, tables, sofas, bed frames, etc. Flat screen TVs
One may also ask, does goodwill take pillows and blankets? Bedspreads, blankets, sheets, and towels. Curtains and draperies. Area and throw rugs. Decorative and throw pillows not used for sleeping.
Subsequently, one may also ask, what items can Goodwill not accept?
Donations Goodwill CANNOT Accept
- Furniture that is covered in animal hair, broken, worn, torn, stained, or missing parts.
- Bean bag chairs.
- Due to the Digital TV Transition, Goodwill will only take flat-screen tvs.
- Excessively large/bulky items such as swing sets, swimming pools, unbound carpeting, etc.
- Large appliances:
Where can I donate sheets?
If your sheets are gently used, you can donate them to a local thrift store, homeless shelter, or pet rescue center. Most charity centers are always in need of sheets, and it gives your set a worthy second life.
How to Dispose of Old Pillows
What Can You Do with Old Bed Sheets?
When In Doubt Call Your Local Goodwill
By taking the extra step of reevaluating your donate pile, you make it easier on your local Goodwill to continue its mission to bring jobs to your community. But keep in mind that the tips above are general donation guidelines. While one location may not accept items larger than a couch, others may have car donation programs, like Goodwill Denver. Due to our autonomous structure, its important to contact your local Goodwill for specific donation policies, says Stewart.
To find and contact your closest Goodwill, call 1-800-GOODWILL, or visit their online store locator.
Dont see your local Goodwill or recycling guide? Let us know below, and well add it to the list!
for more great tips on home, attic and garage cleanouts.
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You Can Also Repurpose Those Unwanted Pillows
When pillows are past their prime, they can still serve a purpose elsewhere. Pillow Insidershares some great ways to breathe new life into old pillows, including:
- Using them as a floor, gardening, or knee pillows
- Making a pet bed
- Donate them to an animal shelter or wildlife refuge
- Use them as packing or moving materials to protect breakable items
- Repurpose them as draft stoppers
- Compost the chemical-free filling
- Use the stuffing the fluff up old pillows or beanbags
Can You Put Pillows In The Recycling Bin
Pillows are not recyclable, period. Therefore, you cannot put your old pillows in a recycling bin.
Instead, you can send them to the textile recycling facility if they are worn out or stained.
While these facilities are not popular, you can take your old pillows if you are running out of ideas on how to dispose of your old pillows. You may tap on your search engine to look for the nearest textile recycling facility and check if they are accepting pillows.
Here are some importantthings you must know when taking pillows to textile recycling facilities:
Another way to dispose of old pillows is to place the pillow stuffing in the compost bin. However, this only applies to natural filling materials such as down and feather.
You just need to remove first the pillow cover or casing since they cannot be put on the compost bin. Once you have accessed the fillings of your pillows, just simply place the down or feather filling to the compost bin and let the compost bin do its work by breaking down the fillings slowly.
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What Can I Donate To Goodwill
Again, each store is different when it comes to accepted donations. Each Goodwill organization has its own criteria for items that are welcomed as donations and those that should be repurposed by the donor in another manner, says Kyle Stewart, senior director of donated goods retail at Goodwill Industries International. Here is a short list of Goodwill donation tips to keep close during your next big cleanout:
Books Video Games Dvds And More
At any Goodwill store or our online store, you will find a range of entertainment at bargain prices. If you have items collecting dust, we would love for you to contribute to our mission by donating these items.
We support the donation of:
- Vinyl records, cassette tapes , CDs, and video games
- Hardback and paperback books, including textbooks and encyclopedias
- DVDs and VHS movies
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Mattresses Mattress Accessories And Recalled Items
Donating a bed frame is a great idea, but mattresses and waterbeds, not so much. The same goes for outdated or unsafe car seats and mobility items.
- Mattresses or box springs: You may think you have a perfectly good mattress or box spring to donate. However, mattresses and box springs take up a ton of space. These items may also be the perfect place for bugs, germs, and other pests to hide either in transport or at Goodwill facilities.
- Waterbeds or waterbed frames: For safety and sanitary reasons, waterbeds and corresponding frames are not accepted by Goodwill.
- Cribs: Similarly, for safety and sanitary reasons, cribs are not accepted by Goodwill.
- Car seats, if recalled or otherwise unsafe: Child car seats and other similar devices must meet additional requirements from the US Consumer Product Safety Commission.
- Mobility devices, if recalled or otherwise unsafe: Mobility devices, such as canes, walkers, wheelchairs, and more have to meet additional safety standards from the US Consumer Product Safety Commission.
Can You Donate Unused Decorative Pillows
You can donate unused decorative pillows, especially because it is unused. Brand new pillows always have the chance of being unaffected by anything. In other words, they are harmless. So, the local shelters can your those pillows without cleaning them much.
Moreover, since they are unused, throwing them will not be a considerate task. Thats because decorative pillows can be beneficial to others.
However, by throwing the pillows, you deprive the needy of those chances. So, donate the pillows.
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Items To Avoid Donating:
- cosmetics and haircare products
- anything broken, gross, or unsellable
As with wish-cycling, having good intent doesnt necessarily mean theres any positive outcome to the act. When well-intentioned patrons handoff mounds of household junk, this isnt only treating philanthropic organizations like garbage collectors, but it also makes individual staff members jobs harder , and makes operations more costly for the nonprofit overall.
All this trash adds up to more than $1 million a year in a trash bill, and its been growing every year for the past five years, said Heather Steeves, spokesperson for Goodwill locations in Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.
Last year, Nicholas Calandra, CEO of Hearts from the Homeless, told Buffalo News all that trash is preventing them from using their funds for the important things. Its staggering, just paying to dispose of stuff, with resources we could use elsewhere, he said. And its not just Goodwill and the Salvation Army. Many nonprofits, large and small, are experiencing the same deluge and have been for years.
Compounding the issue currently is the inordinately high volume of donations that organizations are now receiving, after many temporarily suspended donation acceptances from the public as a pandemic precaution.
How Much Clothing Does Goodwill Throw Away
Most clothing and other donated items are successfully sold in Goodwill stores across Alberta, and internationally. With the help of other methods of selling and recycling, very little, if any, unsold clothing and other goods are thrown away.
To help keep clothing, household items and other used goods out of the landfill, Goodwill partners with local organizations to find alternative solutions. For example, Goodwill Alberta has a partnership with the University of Alberta that allows them to give clothing and household items left behind at residences a second chance.
As a result of being able to sell, recycle or upcycle nearly everything that is donated to them, Goodwill helps communities across the world minimize their environmental footprint. Goodwills sustainability practices diverted nearly 16 million kilograms of waste from landfills in 2019 alone!
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What Does Salvation Army Not Take
Items You Cant Donate
However, Salvation Army stores dont accept built-in appliances or kerosene appliances. They also refuse large console stereos and television sets and automobile parts, including wheels or tires. You cant donate potentially dangerous or polluting items, such as chemicals or paint.
Donating Old Pillows To Homeless Shelters
Make sure to call your local homeless shelter if they do accept pillow donations since there are most homeless shelters that do not accept old bedding due to safety, sanitary, and environmental concerns.
Just like when donating pillows to local animal shelters, make sure the pillows are clean, and they are still in good condition before sending them out.
You may call your chosen organization ahead of time to arrange possible drop-off time for your donation.
You may also consider donating old pillows to charity, local communities, or thrift stores. You can use your search engine to look for networks that accept old pillows.
As a rule of thumb, before you donate pillows, make sure to check they are really in good condition, they are free from stains, and most importantly, they are clean.
P.S: Do not be saddened if the stores or the organizations cannot accept your pillow donations. Since they are assuring for the safety of the animals and the people who will use your old pillows, you may need to check if they accept donations.
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What Items Does Goodwill Accept For Donation
September 10, 2013 by dcarbaugh
When you pull into a Horizon Goodwill Industries donation center with your gently used clothing and household items, you are giving those items a second chance. Items sold in our stores become newfound treasures for Goodwill shoppers. Through the donation cycle, items find new purpose. A donated lamp can help light someones way and a pair of unwanted gloves can give someone a helping hand.
Of every dollar generated by Horizon Goodwill Industries, an average of 90 cents goes into job training programs for our clientele to become gainfully employed and contributing members of society. There are currently 16 retail stores in the four-state area with two additional stores planned. Well gladly accept your donations at any of our stores, the attended donation center in Hagerstown, or by home pick-up and give you a receipt for tax purposes. To help make your donation a smooth and easy process, here is a list of clean, usable items we currently accept.
Accessories in good condition
- Shoes, belts, handbags and briefcases
- Hats, gloves, scarves and ties
- Jewelry
