Member Spotlight

Philadelphia Furniture Bank

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Philadelphia Furniture Bank was founded to ensure that every individual and family exiting homelessness in our community has the items needed to make a house feel like home. Through their non-profit junk hauling enterprise, Good Haul, they pick up unwanted furniture and other items and ensure that 100% of all useable or recyclable items are diverted from landfills and distributed to several nonprofit partners.  They furnish over 1,400 homes each year with furniture saved from disposal.

Why did you become a Circular Philadelphia member?

To connect with partners who value sustainability and the triple bottom line (people, planet, profit). We can provide the manpower, trucks, and storage space to get stuff from where it isn’t wanted to where it is needed.

What does a circular economy mean to your organization?

A circular economy means strengthening the connections between people. We connect the dots between people who no longer need specific items with people who can use them. For example, we collected leftover plywood that got new life in a woodworking class where families participating in a literacy program built bookshelves with and for their children. In another case, chairs no longer needed at a college now seat high school students at an after-school culinary arts program.

How is your organization practicing circularity?

We collect and distribute all kinds of used materials. Much of what we handle is furniture: a table no longer needed in an office cafeteria becomes a place for a previously homeless veteran to sit down for dinner and reconnect with family in their new apartment. Our staff and volunteers repair and refurbish items that need it, and salvage parts like drawer pulls and solid wood from items that can’t be repaired.

How can others advance the circular economy?

Think before you trash it, and help spread the word about reuse! The materials from your old mattress can be recycled in new mattresses instead of going into the landfill. Your unneeded office clothes can be worn by someone who needs attire for a job interview.