When the term “Recycling” is used, we generally think of plastics and aluminum being melted down and used to manufacture new items. But let’s not forget that recycling is also cycling used items through new people making that item new....to them!If you’ve ever shopped at stores such as Goodwill or other thrift stores or at a consignment store, you have essentially been part of a recycling process for those items. “The resale industry has grown by about 7 percent in the last two years.
There are now about 30,000 resale, consignment and thrift stores operating in the United States, according to the National Association of Resale Professionals, or NART. Resale is a multi-billion-dollar-per-year industry. Don't believe it? Well, according to NART, Goodwill Industries alone generated $2.8 billion in retail sales from its 2,324 nonprofit thrift stores in 2009.” These statistics are from a time directly following a huge economic downturn. Since then, these types of stores have only gained popularity.
