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GoodsAgain 2023

Business Information
Name of Organization: 
GoodsAgain
Organization Type: 
Business Description: 
Woman-owned small business with a mission to reduce waste by creating beautiful upcycled products using materials otherwise destined for landfills or oceans. GoodsAgain products are handcrafted and support many under-represented artisans, primarily women. Products include bags, wraps, accessories, home goods, and jewelry.
Contact Person: 
Tanu Kumar
Title: 
Founder and Owner
Business Location: 
18 Essex Road
07928 Chatham , NJ
United States
40° 44' 28.0932" N, 74° 23' 34.3392" W
Phone: 
6092164438
Email: 
tanu.kumar@goodsagain.com
Number of Employees: 
0
Website: 
www.goodsagain.com
Renewal Date: 
Monday, January 23, 2023
Management and Leadership
Adopt Environmental Policy Statement
Description of Action: 
The core mission at GoodsAgain is sustainability. That was also the primary reason why it was started. GoodsAgain carefully chooses vendors to work with, making sure that it is creating a positive environmental impact by upcycling waste materials as well as a positive social impact by supporting artisans. The attached PDF is the ‘About us’ page of the GoodsAgain website that talks about its core mission to cut waste, reuse materials, reduce energy and water consumption by using existing materials as much as possible.
Upload Document(PDF Only): 
Waste
Waste Reduction
Description of Action: 
The products at GoodsAgain are upcycled from materials which are otherwise discarded and destined for landfills or oceans. For each product, we are diverting waste and converting it into a new and unique product. Some of the examples are: Our bags are made from excess textile waste from the factories- apparel waste or upholstery fabric excess or excess denim which was a waste for those factories. GoodsAgain has bags, accessories and home products from an innovative newspaper collection where old newspapers are put to use by weaving thin strips of paper with a thread Our boho jewelry is made from materials such as old magazines, remnants of yarns, sewing fabric waste, soda can pull tabs etc. All of our wraps are made from pre-loved sarees. Besides that, my business is online and I work from home. So my work location is my home, I try to reduce waste as much as possible on an everyday basis.. Few things I do regularly at my home: Use cloth rags 95% of the times for cleaning purposes which cuts down a significant amount of paper towels Refill my handsoap, laundry soap, bathing soap, dishwasher detergent through a local refill shop which significantly cuts down multiple big plastic containers Reuse glass containers (like the one from pasta sauce, jam, etc) in my kitchen, thereby reducing the need to buy new empty containers and reduce packaging waste Cook food at home from scratch most of the times, thereby cutting down packaging that comes with ready to eat meals Use tea leaves which can then be composted instead of using tea bags which otherwise go in trash Compost in my backyard so most of my kitchen scraps go there which significantly reduced my curbside trash and trash bags every week I do bulk shopping for dry goods as much as I can. This again saves a lot of packaging waste. Calculations: Amount of trash generated by an average American per day =: 4.9 lbs (EPA.gov) Amount of trash generated by an average household of 4 people per day : 4.9 X 4 = lbs = 19.6 lbs Amount of trash generated by an average household of 4 people per week : 19.6 X 7 = 137.2 lbs Average curbside trash bag in our household = 20 lbs per week Reduction in trash generated compared to average household : 137.2-20 = 117.2lbs per week Reduction in trash generated per year : 117.2 * 52 = 6,094 lbs Reduction in trash generated per year in tonne : 6,094/2,000 = 3.04 tonne Average cost of waste disposal in NJ = $70 per tonne (taken from the calculation sheet) Savings in disposal cost = 3.04 * 70 = $213
Lbs Saved: 
6,094
Money Saved: 
213
Energy
Energy Efficiency
Description of Action: 
Since GoodsAgain products primarily use existing materials as the main raw material, they save a huge amount of energy otherwise required to create new raw materials. Also, since many of our products are handcrafted by artisans, there is a very little use of machines and power to make those products. Besides that, my business is online and I work from home. So my work location is my home, I try to reduce energy as much as possible on an everyday basis.. Few things I do regularly at my home are: I keep the thermostat temperature in an eco setting most of the time. This makes sure that the Air conditioner in summer and the heater in winters is not running for a very long time, thus saving energy. I run my washing machine in a cold water setting which saves a lot of energy. 90% of the energy used in a washing machine otherwise gets used in heating water. I run my dishwasher when it is completely full, thus optimizing it as much as possible I turn off lights and appliances whenever they are not in use I use natural light as much as I can to avoid turning on lights during the day I try to use the solar energy whenever I can by drying some thick clothes, jackets, shoes, etc outside, thus avoid putting them in the dryer
Water
Water Conservation
Description of Action: 
Since GoodsAgain products primarily use existing materials as the main raw material, they save a huge amount of water which is otherwise required to create new raw materials. For example, About 10,000 litres of water is required to create denim fabric required for a pair of denim jeans. By using excess scraps of the denim factory, each of our upcycled denim bag collection saves thousands of litres of water. Similarly, GoodsAgain newspaper bags use cotton textile waste from a textile factory for inside lining of all bags. Cotton is a very water intensive crop, hence thousands of liters of water is saved by using existing cotton fabric waste instead of creating new.
Community
Support Community Initiatives
Description of Action: 
I love to give back to my community and get involved in several ways. Few examples are: Participated in 2022 Earth day in my town : Talked about upcycling with people and showed them how waste materials can be rescued to make new products. Did a hands on activity with kids to make new greeting cards and gift bags using old newspapers and old cards, ribbons, etc lying at home I participated in a fundraising event in 2022 where 20% of the sales were donated to Goryeb’s Children’s Hospital I always prefer to buy from local businesses first whenever possible. I had given a talk about sustainability and upcycling in a local girl scout troop in 2022 to raise awareness about sustainability I volunteer with the Chatham Borough Green team on different initiatives I participated in the Chatham Sustainability Fair in 2022, the fair showcased different aspects of sustainable lifestyle I did a fundraiser with Chatham School District in 2022 where 20% of sales were donated to the School district I have put s stall of my products at the Chatham Farmer’s market in 2021 and 2022 a few times to give people in my local community an opportunity to buy sustainable alternatives
Finished Application: 
1
required_descriptions: 
5
Member Since: 
Monday, January 23, 2023