Wellesley has been spring cleaning all summer long. With no Recycling & Disposal Facility give-and-take area so far this year, residents are finding their basements, garages, and other parts of their homes overflowing with stuff they’d like to get rid of in a responsible way.
“I have stuff that’s piling up in my basement that I would prefer to be repurposed and reused by other people but at some point if I run out of space I have a hard decision about how I get rid of it,” Jeff Wechsler, a member of the Wellesley Board of Public Works, said during the board’s meeting this week. “I know that’s probably happening across town.”
Some in Wellesley have turned to online groups like Wellesley Give & Take or joined forces to make runs to Savers in Framingham. Sustainable Wellesley distributed a list in July of places accepting donations.
But according to DPW Director Dave Cohen, you might not want to give up on the RDF Reusables area opening in some format by the end of the year.
The area has closed in early December in recent years, so we still have a few months to play with.
One challenge, aside from the obvious COVID-19 social distancing ones within a space that can become a feeding frenzy, is that volunteers are dramatically reduced.
The DPW has put a draft job description together for someone who would manage the area on a day-to-day, hour-to-hour basis, Cohen said.
“Our fear is that if we were to reopen that area as it was before we should expect to have sort of similar results as before, and I don’t think that is good enough,” he said.
In the meantime, you might see the RDF step up promotions of alternate places to donate goods, or even align with efforts such as Wellesley Rotary’s Repair Cafe.
Just install videos. Best way to ensure that people behave themselves. It’s commonplace everywhere these days and should be here too.