Page 27 - Plastics News October 2016

FEATURES
2011–2013, with UHNWIs growing faster than in other
developing markets such as China or Brazil in 2012–2013.
HNWIs’ wealth grew at 6% per year, from $477 billion in
2009 to $612 billion in 2013.
What is remarkable is that philanthropic donations in India
are ahead of donations in other developing countries. India
is a global outlier, with a larger percentage of its population for central Indiana; Albuquerque for New Mexico; Goodwill
making charitable donations than other countries at
its level of prosperity elsewhere in the world Even in
developed countries like the US, charitable donations do
not exceed the average for its level of per capita GDP.
Recently to ramp up donation and household recycling
efforts, US based NGO Goodwill Industries partnered with
thermoformer Ray Products Co. Inc. to create goBins, a
collection of indoor donation containers that are designed
to fit inside apartment building lobbies, urban commercial
centers, hotels and office complexes. Goodwill Industries
International Inc. is an American nonprofit 501(c)(3)
organization that provides job training, employment
placement services, and other community-based programs
for people who have barriers preventing them from
otherwise obtaining a job.
The goBin indoor collection container is designed to go
inside apartment building lobbies and office complexes
where people already are, rather than forcing them to
make an extra trip to donate household items. Some of
the goBins are also “smart” boxes, with a QR code on the
side of the boxes that donors can scan to get an emailed
receipt, and a sensor inside that alerts charities when
the bins are full.
The Goodwill program also is targeted at clothing items
such as shirts, pants, dresses and even shoes, which are
far more likely to end up in the dump than being recycled.
“As we approach our 100th year serving the San Francisco
community, we are innovating on our processes and
services as we develop our strategies” for the next century,
William Rogers, interim president and CEO of Goodwill
San Francisco, said Goodwill SF developed the goBin with
design group frog design Inc. and Ray Products of Ontario,
Calif. Ray Products is a custom thermoformer. We do large-
scale heavy-gauge pressure forming and vacuum forming.
We work hard to be more than just a cog-in-the-wheel
for our customers, but to be a comprehensive solution.
That means we offer everything from design support, to
Plastics News | O c t o b e r 2 0 1 6 27
custom finishing, painting and even assembly. Our goal
is that after a project with us, our customers will come
away thinking, “Wow, that made things so much easier,
and it turned out really well.”
Goodwill SF has goBins for use in its own market and has
also sold them other community operations: In Indianapolis
Keystone for portions of Pennsylvania; Fort Worth, Texas;
Cincinnati for the Ohio Valley; San Jose, Calif., for Silicon
Valley; and Goodwill Ontario Great Lakes in London,
Ontario.
GoBin locations include multi-unit apartment and
condominium buildings, office structures, urban
commercial centers and hotels. “So far, it is working,”
Rogers said of the program. “People are giving a lot of
donations through goBins, and sensors are providing alerts
on the need for pickups.”
Frog design worked on a pro bono basis with Goodwill and
the first prototype — molded with wooden tools — was
installed at the San Francisco commercial building of Kilroy
Realty Corp. in July 2015.
From the start, Goodwill San Francisco wanted to focus
on clothing donations. On average, each American sends
70 pounds of textiles to the dump every year, rather than
donating them. For San Francisco, that translates to 4,500
pounds of textiles entering landfills every hour, making
up 5 percent of the total volume of waste. Increasing
donations of soft goods to Goodwill not only helps the
charity, it helps the city toward its goals of reducing waste,
Goodwill officials noted.
But because San Francisco residents tend to drive less,
getting bags of donations to collection centers can be
complicated. Putting bins into prime locations — and making
them look good — became a driver behind the goBin.