Wellesley RDF Give and Take area re-opens, and Sunday hours to come back

It’s been a long time since the dump kept Sunday hours. From 1997 – 2005, the RDF was open 7 days a week, but then budget cuts intervened, and the DPW was forced to reduce the number of days residents could get rid of their trash and recyclables (you can read more about that here). The only exception has been several Sundays per year during the busy leaf season, but that’s about to change.

To a smattering of applause at Town Meeting (such outbursts are generally frowned upon at the staid, all-business forum) Town Meeting members voted last week to approve Sunday hours to start July 10 running through around the end of November, 11am – 3pm. The money to do so comes from savings in the DPW budget. The DPW has always supported the idea of Sunday hours, noting that it’s what the people of Wellesley want. As recently retired RDF Superintendent Gordon Martin used to say, “There’s no doubt in my mind that if we were open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, residents would come in all throughout the day and night.”

Give and Take area re-opens

Don’t just throw away all the clutter in your home you’ve accumulated over the winter. That old lamp sans lampshade or the rug with hardly any holes at all may look like nothing more than decorating abominations to you, but I guarantee this — they will be treated as rare found objects and lovingly carted away by someone if you bring them to the now-open RDF’s Give and Take area.

All the books, toys, games, 1990s entertainment centers, and other items that you wouldn’t so much as delegate to the depths of your home’s man-cave can find appreciative new owners at Wellesley’s biggest free yard sale. Look at you clearing out that unused stuff. You’re so tidy.

If you’d like to get the first look at things as they come in, the Friends of Wellesley RDF is looking for volunteers to help sort out all incoming treasures.

There’s also a place for your ratty old cloth items that are in such a state of degradation that you’d be ashamed to donate them to the Salvation Army. New RDF Superintendent Jeff Azano-Brown says, “We’re looking to get the word out about our textiles area because we don’t believe that people know that you can put just about anything in there – ripped clothes, blankets, stained clothes, belts, etc.”

The RDF hours are:

Mon – Wed, 7am – noon
Thur and Fri, 7am – 3:45
Sat, 7am – 4:45
Sun, Closed (until July 10)