Lisa Goldsand is a Bexley resident and former apparel executive who started a business focused on scaling the circular economy at a local level. With Circular Thrift, she's making it easier for consumers to put items into recirculation, making it convenient to take advantage of pre-owned clothing and accessories. The mission of the organization is to help Bexley reduce its consumption and to build community around the idea of re-use.

Circular Thrift is supporting this effort in a number of different ways – drops, swaps, pick-up, and thrift sales. “2023 is the year of test and learn. We will do more of what works and learn from what doesn’t,” said Lisa.

With drop off bins conveniently located around Bexley, residents can easily donate clean used clothing items. The organization also promotes monthly themes. November’s drop featured Halloween Costumes while December focused on sweaters and January was lightly used backpacks. Circular Thrift plans to repair, resell, or upcycle as much of these items as possible.

Circular Thrift organizes community swaps focused on product categories and consumer groups. The first student-wide formal wear swap took place in January at Capital University. Future swaps will focus on kids apparel in March and wear-to-work in April. Circular Thrift offers paid curbside collection, making it convenient to clean out closets. Later this year, they will offer curated thrift sales from a mobile trailer.

Lisa believes it is important to meet the consumer where they are and offer solutions to their problems in creative ways. “People care about the environment and want to do something meaningful to impact climate change. Scaling re-use is the most sustainable activity for US consumers at this time," Lisa said.

Circular Thrift plans to track total landfill diversion and reduced greenhouse gas emission which the

community achieves through local support of the circular economy. You can find out

more at www.circularthrift.org.