We just completed a year of sampling the weight of items taken from the Free Market; we weighed one week a month to estimate the total and average. Final results: From April 1, 2023 to April 1, 2024, 70,745 pounds (35.4 tons) of donated items went to new homes. That’s an average of 475 pounds every day that we are open. And we know this is an underestimate—many heavy items come and go from the dock 24/7, and we rarely capture that weight. We also didn’t count the donated clothing and books that we take to Alleghany Care and Books’n’Friends in Sparta, who re-sell them for their non-profit causes.
So a conservative estimate of savings to the County is $1,945 a year in tipping fees, what they have to pay to put things in the Regional Landfill ($55/ton). More importantly, we are giving residents a way to help the environment as well as their fellow citizens by bringing useful things to us!