Exclusive Q&A: Regional Goodwill chapter moves beyond resale
Goodwill Industries of the Chesapeake leverages strategic systems and cutting‑edge machinery to support resale, recycling and sustainability efforts.
Chain Store Age recently spoke with Lisa Rusyniak, president & CEO, Goodwill Industries of the Chesapeake, about how the Maryland-based regional chapter of the wider Goodwill nonprofit retail organization operating across Maryland, Washington, D.C. and Delaware has built on its core resale mission to provide recycling services, using technology solutions.
Goodwill operates on a federated model, meaning it's an affiliation of 154 individual, independent nonprofits at the state and local levels.
How would you describe Goodwill’s core mission?
Every day, we receive thousands of donated items, such as clothing, household goods, electronics, books, linens, that we carefully sort. Items in good, clean, working condition are prepared and offered for sale online via ShopGoodwill.com or in our network of retail stores and outlets.
In 2024 alone, we diverted 35 million pounds from landfills, keeping everything from clothing and shoes to scrap metal, toys, and computers in the circular economy.
The funds generated from resale directly fuel our workforce development, adult education, reentry, and career certification programs, turning thrift shopping into transformative community impact.
What type of recycling activities is Goodwill involved in?
For items that can’t be sold, we invest in next‑level recycling strategies: Utilizing a grant from the Truist Charitable Fund, we installed ‘Poe,’ a glass pulverizer that converts unsellable or broken glass into sand for use in landscaping, shoreline restoration, and construction projects.
This innovative program not only reduces landfill burden but also creates green-job pathways for the people we serve. In addition, we partnered with composite decking provider Trex in 2022 to accept plastic bag drop-offs at all our stores, ensuring these flexible plastics are recycled responsibly.
Working collaboratively with regional Goodwill affiliates, we’re now exploring systems to break down and upcycle unsellable plastics into raw materials, supporting emerging circular-economy markets.
What technologies support your resale and recycling efforts?
Our work relies on both strategic systems and cutting‑edge machinery. Donations are sorted onsite, categorized by type and quality, then entered into inventory systems that ensure online and in-store availability through real-time tracking.
The industrial grade ‘Poe’ glass pulverizer grinds glass into sand or cullet, repurposing what would otherwise be a waste product into valuable raw material.
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Can you discuss some of your future sustainability plans?
Looking ahead, our sustainability plans include scaling our glass recycling efforts. Following its strong adoption in Baltimore, we will expand glass pulverization across more facilities and collaborate regionally to increase material diversion, training 1,500 individuals by end of 2025 across Maryland, Washington, D.C. and Delaware.
Goodwill Industries of the Chesapeake, is also phasing out single-use plastic bags at the point of sale and transitioning to sustainable alternatives. We are creating quarterly environmental scorecards to transparently measure progress in waste diversion, recycling rates, and resource conservation.
Our sustainability approach is holistic and mission-driven. Resale keeps goods in circulation and funds human impact; while recycling repurposes the remaining materials, such as glass into sand and bags into composites/metals. Future focus doubles down on scaling green jobs, expanding new programs, and improving accountability.
At Goodwill Industries of the Chesapeake, sustainability isn’t a side project, it’s central to our strategic vision and it enriches both the planet and the people we serve.
