Need a used kitchen sink? Or have you got one taking up space in the garage and are eager to be rid of it?

Either way, a new and increasingly popular type of Internet community dedicated to the principle that one person’s trash is another’s treasure may have your solution.

The so-called Freecycle network is a grass roots movement focused on finding new homes for old furniture, toys, clothing and whatever else you might have or want, all for free and all for the goal of keeping used items out of landfills.

“It is a lot of fun, plus it helps the environment by reducing bulky waste,” says Matt Scruton, moderator of the Rochester, N.H., freecycle group. “I think a lot of people are throwing away things that could have a second life.”

Started in Arizona about 18 months ago, the network has grown to more than 570,000 members, including nearly 4,400 in New Hampshire, nearly 6,300 in Maine and almost 2,100 in Vermont.

The mechanics of Freecycle are simple. Post a message at www.freecycle.org saying what you want to give away or what you’re looking for, then wait for the offers to come in.

The most important rule – whether giving or receiving – is that everything is free. Members join groups local to them for ease of pickup and delivery.

Scruton said his site, which serves Rochester and anyone living within 30 minutes of the city, gets six or seven e-mail postings a day from people hoping to give or get something.

“The posts run from cats to stoves to pianos. People have furnished whole apartments with Freecycle,” he said.

The groups are strictly moderated to enforce the rules and keep the postings free of spam and other unwanted postings.

Simone Parham, 34, a member from New Hampshire’s Lakes Region, said she only recently joined but already has given away unwanted items to people who needed them.

“The last time I gave away something via Freecycle, it was a set of maple bunk beds,” Parham said. “They were used but in fairly nice condition, but we weren’t using them. I was happy to find someone who could make use of them, especially since the alternative was carting them down to the dump.”

Rose Anne Grenier, 52, from Laconia, said she found about Freecycle from a television commercial.

“It looked interesting, so I joined to see how it would work. I have a lot of stuff to get rid of,” she said.

Grenier said she couldn’t be happier with how things have worked out.

In the process of doing some serious house cleaning, Grenier said she’s been able to give away a tent, a cooler, a computer printer and various pieces of camping equipment that she and her husband no longer need.

“I look around my house and I have all this stuff I want to get rid of, and there is nothing wrong with it,” Grenier said. “Why throw it away when someone could really use this stuff? I’ve been there, I’ve been a single mother who couldn’t afford many things.”

Grenier has also been a receiver.

Trying to help out her daughter, a single mother with two children, Grenier recently posted a request on the Mount Washington Valley group site, requesting children’s clothes for her two grandchildren.

“So far I’ve got seven bags of clothes I have to sort through,” Grenier said. “I simply wouldn’t be able to afford to buy all those clothes.”