Community Support Plus Reuse - Lancaster's Success Story

The Lancaster, NH Town Hall is a neat building full of surprises - from the wonderful auditorium and town offices, to the upstairs space used by the local Free Masons, it's a great community space! 

On a recent visit, NRRA learned of another fantastic resource that combines reuse and community support.

In the basement of the Lancaster Town Hall, there are neat rows of clothing, shoes, and household goods ready for community members in need. Run by Waypoint as their North Country Regional Office, gently used clothing and home goods are diverted from being thrown away, sorted, and then offered to 700-1000 individuals in need every year. 

The latest EPA estimates show that less than 15% of textile waste is recycled in the US. That means that while 2.5 million tons of material was recycled, more than 11 million tons of textile waste was sent to landfills, or nearly 8% of all municipal solid waste (household trash) landfilled.

Textiles - like clothing, cloth napkins or placemats, bedding, and so on - take a tremendous amount of resources to create. When folks throw unwanted textiles in the garbage, not only does it waste money and resources, but it can take many decades for the materials to decompose in a landfill. During the decomposition process, textiles generate greenhouse methane gas and leach toxic chemicals and dyes into the groundwater and our soil.

By diverting useable textiles to Waypoint, North Country residents are making a sound economic and environmental choice. The fact these items are then able to be used by others within their community, further benefits Lancaster and its residents. 

Waypoint has been supporting and empowering NH citizens since 1850. Though they began as a child welfare agency, their programming has expanded to include early childhood and family support, family preservation and strengthening, homeless youth and young adults, and health, wellbeing, and independence. 

The Lancaster location is open on Mondays and Tuesdays from 9am to noon. There is a private entrance in the rear of the Town Hall.