Goodwill of South Central Ohio’s nine stores are now drop-off points for all computer-related electronics through a new recycling partnership with Dell Reconnect.

The stores in Athens, Chillicothe, Circleville, Jackson, Logan, McArthur, Washington Court House, and Waverly join hundreds of other Goodwill locations across the nation which are drop off points for Dell Reconnect. The Dell Reconnect program recycles any brand of unwanted computers, monitors, printers, scanners, hard drives, keyboards, mice, speakers, and cables. Dell reports it makes about 125 different products with recycled materials from the program. Since starting its recycling efforts in 2007, Dell has recovered more than 2.5
billion pounds of used electronics.

“We are excited to partner with Dell as we work toward our goal of zero waste,” said COO Mark Hughes who oversees the retail and facilities and logistics operations for Goodwill of South Central Ohio. “While ideally we would be able to sell all of the items donated to our stores, it is not reality. So we continue to look for ways to keep those unsold or unsellable items out of local landfills by finding vendors interested in purchasing certain items and partnerships like the one with Dell.”

In 2021, Goodwill of South Central Ohio recycled nearly 2.4 million pounds of items including textiles, books, purses, backpacks, belts, cardboard, and metal. This summer, hard plastic toys, plush toys, and bric-a-brac such as kitchenware, plasticware, and glassware were added to the internal recycling program.

Proceeds from recycling as well as retail help support Goodwill’s mission to partner with individuals with disabilities and challenges to help them lead the lives they envision across our eight-county region. As of August, Goodwill of South Central Ohio was serving 283 people across its region.

Goodwill provides services in partnerships with county developmental disability boards in its eight counties, the Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities, and Opportunities for Ohioans with Disabilities.

For more information on Goodwill, go online to www.GWISCO.org and follow us on Facebook.