Every recycling day at the Bradford transfer station for the past 16 years, manager Lois Kilnapp loads cardboard boxes, aluminum cans, and plastic bottles into the station’s three large green compactors.
She does more than just sort trash. She educates people on the importance of reusing items, reducing trash and recycling everything else. She routinely stops residents and examines their trash, to offer any helpful pointers. She’ll explain if something can be salvaged or still be of use to someone else. To Kilnapp, a transfer station is a place for residents to learn to reduce their carbon footprint.
Among her many missions is to compost food scraps and get them out of the trash stream.
Kilnapp pulled a loaf of stale bread, a carton of fairly good-looking strawberries, and a half-full box of spring mix from a plastic bag and set it to the side. She saved them for farmers who come by and pick them up to feed to their pigs and cows. She said it astounds her to see how much food people toss out with their trash.
“Throwing food away in the compactor costs the town tipping fees to have it transported, when it could instead be used to feed pigs and other animals,” said Kilnapp.
As a teenager, Kilnapp worked in a restaurant in Waterville Valley with a Russian immigrant couple who washed the dishes. She said the couple was upset when they saw how much food was being wasted.
“They could see all the really good food coming back, hardly eaten, and then it was just scraped into a garbage can and thrown out,” said Kilnapp, recalling a moment when the couple teared up as they looked at all the waste.
Her interaction with the couple was a wake-up call, and she has since been conscious of her carbon footprint. At her house, she has barrels to separate and recycle cans, plastics, paper, and aluminum foil and composts her own food scraps.
“I’m all set up for recycling absolutely everything. There isn’t much I don’t recycle,” Kilnapp said.
The transfer station is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays. A table on one side of the space is piled high with trinkets, dog toys, bowls and dishes, Halloween decorations and more. She refers to the table as the “swap shop” because people leave items on the table for others to take.
Jennifer Silvia, a Bradford resident for two years, pulled up to the transfer station with her dog while Kilnapp was recycling bottles left by a resident. Silvia comes to the station every week and her dog enjoys accompanying her because Kilnapp always gives him a treat. She said you’d be surprised at what you’d find at the dump.
“We’ve got a dining table and a nice computer chair,” said Silvia. “I’ve got clothes, glasses and books here too.”
Silvia said the transfer station would not be the same without Kilnapp.
“She always makes sure everyone is recycling to the best of their abilities and is always educating people, and she’s always willing to answer any questions,” said Silvia.
