Broken Flat Screen TVs Aren’t Accepted At Pittsfield’s Goodwill

I was dropping off a bag of clothes at the Goodwill donation center behind the Allendale Shopping Center in Pittsfield when I spotted it: a broken Panasonic flat-screen TV sitting in the donation pile. Cracked screen and all. Somebody drove it over, set it down, and left, like that counts as a donation.

My first thought was that they were now accepting TVs - and then I remembered how lazy and sneaky people can be.

Here's the thing. It's not just that the TV was broken. Goodwill of the Berkshires doesn't accept televisions at all, not broken ones, not working ones. Their own donation guidelines list TVs under "Cannot Accept" for Massachusetts locations. The only place they'll take a TV is across the state line in Vermont. So whoever left that Panasonic behind the Allendale wasn't even close to the rules, they just picked a spot to dump it.

This is part of a bigger problem charities call "wishcycling," people dropping off broken or unwanted stuff at donation centers and hoping it magically becomes somebody else's problem to deal with. NPR reported a few years back that this kind of dumping costs Goodwill locations more than a million dollars a year in trash removal, and that's just for one regional operator. Every TV, mattress, or busted lamp that shows up where it shouldn't has to get hauled away on Goodwill's dime.

If you've got a TV to get rid of in Massachusetts, Goodwill in Pittsfield isn't the answer. Call ahead at 413-442-0061 before you make the trip, or look into a certified e-waste recycler instead.