Here’s a simple way to help the planet on Earth Day: Donate to the new Edmonds Goodwill store, located at 10117 Edmonds Way. In the process, you’ll be helping people in our community get job skills so they can find work and support themselves and their families.

Here’s how it works:

– Clean out your closets, basement, attic or garage, and gather up things you no longer use — such as clothing, furniture, books or sporting equipment. For a list of accepted donations, visit www.seattlegoodwill.org.

– Load up your car, head to Goodwill and drop off your items.

– Goodwill stocks the shelves of its non-profit thrift stores with the items you donate.

When people buy what you donate, it’s friendly to the environment. Those items get a new lease on life and stay out of the landfills. Plus, the net proceeds support Goodwill’s free job training programs.

You can also be eco-friendly by recycling. Goodwill participates in a successful program called E-Cycle Washington. Just bring in your old televisions, computers, monitors and laptops to one of Goodwill’s donation centers, and they will be recycled responsibly, free of charge.

“As stewards of the goods donated to us, we sell or recycle as much as possible to raise funds for our free programs and to keep items out of the landfill,” said Cindi Forslund, Vice President of Operations.  “By doing this, we recycled about 19,000 tons of materials last year.”

This year in honor of Earth Day, Seattle-area Goodwill stores will be selling eco-friendly bamboo products, including colorful bowls and towels, utensils and cutting boards. As always, reusable bags are also for sale in Goodwill stores, encouraging customers to save resources.