Uber and Goodwill join forces to help you donate clothes
The makers of the ride-hailing mobile app offered to help people in more than than 50 cities to deliver their unwanted clothing to Goodwill stores across the country.
FILE PHOTO - In this March 18, photo, the Uber app displays cars available to make a pickup in downtown Manhattan on a smart phone, in New York. Uber teamed up with Goodwill Industries to arrange free pickup of unused clothes for Uber users' spring cleaning efforts. Drivers would pick up clothes free of charge and take them to the nearest Goodwill.
Mary Altaffer/FILE/AP
Uber and Goodwill want to help Americans with their spring cleaning.
Users of the mobile application in more than fifty US cities opened the application to find a new "GIVE" option, available only on Saturday, May 2. Customers could use the feature to summon an SUV to聽pick up bagged clothes, which they took to the聽nearest Goodwill, free of charge.
In addition to major US cities where Uber has a large presence, the spring cleaning initiative was in cities such as Detroit, Dallas, Denver, and Miami, among others (full list ).聽The nationwide promotion between Uber and Goodwill was built off a previous successful spring cleaning initiative in last year, and another in Boston and San Francisco last fall, according to Uber press releases.
鈥淏oth Uber and Goodwill strive to聽make聽a聽meaningful聽impact on local聽communities, and we are thrilled to once again team up with Goodwill to make donating fast and easy for Uber users,鈥� David Plouffe, Senior Vice President of Policy and Strategy at Uber, said in a Goodwill .聽鈥淭hose who participate in this campaign are not only checking something off their to-do list,聽but聽supporting Goodwill and its mission to strengthen communities by providing job placement and training for people in need.鈥�
Most unwanted clothing in the United States gets thrown in the trash. According to The Atlantic, Americans buy as they did in 1980, and textile trash grew by from 1999 to 2009. Americans recycle or donate only 15 percent of clothing, and in turn聽10.5 million tons of textiles a year end up in landfills. This makes textiles one of the that are reusable, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Less than 16 percent of the more than 14 million tons of textile waste was recycled in 2014.聽
鈥淭his innovative and exciting partnership demonstrates Uber鈥檚 commitment to local communities on a national and international scale,鈥� Kim Zimmer, chief marketing officer and senior vice president of global development of Goodwill Industries International, said in the same press release. 鈥淭his collaboration has made Spring cleaning and donating an easy task, while ensuring that their clothing is not only diverted from landfills, but also goes toward supporting efforts to put people back to work.鈥�