Look around this Earth Day — at your world and one another

How we live affects the ability of every other creature, seen or unseen, to coexist with us. The stuff we throw to the side of the road harms the environment. Birds and fish mistake bits of plastic for food. Cigarette butts leach terrible chemicals into the ground and water. Computer equipment and other electronics can wreak havoc when dumped in an ecosystem. Discarded clothing and shoes go to waste, when they could have been recycled or reconditioned.

Earth Day — and sustainability more broadly — is about seeing that the old can be just as valuable as the new, that the broken can be mended, that kicking stuff or people to the side of the road is both harmful and wasteful.

Goodwill receives and sorts through thousands of gently-used clothing, electronics and other household items daily. Where others might see trash and junk, Goodwill sees treasure, diamonds in the rough. Last year alone, we diverted more than 23.7 million pounds of goods from going to landfills. Solid waste in landfills — not to mention items illegally dumped into the environment — has significant environmental impacts, including air quality, groundwater pollution, soil fertility and others.

Among those donated items were 6,258,084 pounds of clothing; 1,668,063 pounds of books; 791,240 pounds of scrap metal; 177,496 pounds of shoes; 304,005 pounds of linens; 203,125 pounds of toys; 53,329 pounds of handbags; 137,847 pounds of computer equipment; 367,754 pounds of cardboard; and 812,500 pounds of wares.

By reconditioning these donated items and reselling them through our stores, we accomplish two important objectives. First: providing great bargains on donated, good-condition clothes, home goods and other items, which our retail customers love. And second but equally important: generating revenue that sustains our programs. The sale of those goods funds a wide range of job training classes, case management and career services designed to help individuals find employment, improve their skills or change career paths.

Last year, for example, Goodwill placed individuals from Baltimore, central Maryland and the Eastern Shore into 2,084 jobs. Partners like CVS Health and Turnaround Tuesday team up with us to help people explore and build new careers. Additionally, staff from our Emerge Initiative link participants with skills training opportunities in the building trades, IT and other growth industries.

So in very tangible ways, sustainability supports our work while our work advances sustainability. Goodwill is part of a virtuous circle that recycles goods and uplifts lives.

This Earth Day, we invite you to open your eyes wide and practice goodwill toward the earth — throughout the year.

Lisa Rusyniak (Twitter: @LisaRusyniak) is president and CEO of Goodwill Industries of the Chesapeake.