Apparel Impact Report
Apparel Impact (http://apparelimpact.com) is a New Hampshire-based organization run by veterans that focuses on textile diversion from landfills. Eighty-five percent of discarded clothing ends up in landfills but 60% of that can be reused in some way, and that is a goal of Apparel Impact. Clothing and accessories from their collection bins provides clothing to people in need in the Northeast including New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York. In addition, fabric from clothing that cannot be worn because it is stained or torn, is sent to manufacturers that shred it to fibers that car manufacturers such as Toyota can use for car carpets and linings. What is collected in the bins in addition to clothing includes, belts, all footwear, accessories such as purses, scarves, hats, duffle bags and more, including sheets and towels. The materials collected by Apparel Impact in 2024 weighed a total of 3,060 tons in New Hampshire, with 38 tons coming from Hanover alone.
Some Hanover residents worried that Apparel Impact’s item collection might have a negative impact on the Listen Center, which counts on clothing donations by local residents. So Sustainable Hanover invited Joe Whitten, the CEO from Apparel Impact and Tracy Davis, the Listen Financial Director and Heather Griffin, the Listen Program Director to meet together to address this concern. Both Tracy and Heather made it clear that Listen gets more textiles then they can use and often send things that cannot be reused to the Lebanon Landfill, not to manufacturers for reuse. Joe was amenable to making donations to Listen if they are in need of some type of clothing that he has collected. Both Apparel Impact and Listen suggested working together as a way of improving textile diversion for Hanover. A win-win situation!
The Sustainable Hanover Waste Reduction team is working on getting more collection bins in addition to the five at the Hanover Food Coop and the one at the Hanover Public Works. One of the goals is to have the bins available in different parts of Town to make donating items more convenient for people around town. When more are set out, Sustainable Hanover will let everyone know where they will be.
