Summit To Break Ground On New Free Market Building

SUMMIT, NJ, – For the past decade, the Summit Free Market allow Summit residents to exchange reusable items but were hampered by not being able to do so year round. Saturday is the first step to changing that as a groundbreaking ceremony for the new Summit Free Market building has been scheduled.

The ceremony will will take place at 9:30 a.m. at the City of Summit Transfer Station on 40 New Providence Ave. The ceremonial event will be led by Mayor Nora Radest, Council President David Naidu, members of Common Council and city staff. Members of the Summit community are invited to attend.

The building project is partially funded by private donations raised by the Summit Conservancy, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting environmental projects and sustainability in Summit. To date, the Summit Conservancy has raised $135K of the $375K needed for the construction of a permanent home for the Summit Free Market reuse initiative.

The City of Summit has provided grant monies and in-kind contributions to further off-set the amount needed to be complete the project.

Since 2008, the student-run Summit Free Market has kept more than 120 tons of reusable material from the waste stream, saving the City of Summit more than $25K in tipping fees over the 10-year period. A tipping fee is generally the charge levied upon a given quantity of waste received at a waste processing facility. It is also known as a gate fee.

Additional information on the Summit Free Market is available on the City of Summit website. To make a donation to help fund the project, visit the Summit Conservancy website.

According to officials, a permanent structure will allow Summit residents to exchange reusable items year round. Currently, Free Market events take place on two consecutive Saturdays in both the spring and fall. More information on the Conservancy can be found on their website, which says that they strive to advance environmental knowledge and action in the local community and among political leaders through grants provided to leverage the reach of our programs, support the efforts of other organizations, and strengthen the environmental education field as a whole.

A GoFundMe campaign has been started in support of the Free Market Building and those interested can donate here.

GoFundMe is a Patch promotional partner.

Thanks for reading! Learn more about posting announcements or events to your local Patch site here. Have a news tip you'd like to share? Or maybe you have a press release you would like to submit or a correction you'd like to request? Send an email to russ.crespolini@patch.com

Subscribe to your local Patch newsletter by clicking here. You can also have them delivered to your phone screen by downloading our Apple iOS app here, or by visiting the Google Play store for the Android app here.