Wellesley residents line up to shop their neighbors’ cast-offs

There are a few select spots in town where Wellesley residents are willing to line up for the kind of choice delicacies that delivery services just can’t be trusted to handle. The Cheese Shop on the days before Thanksgiving and Christmas, and Green’s Hardware on a Saturday morning during a pandemic are a couple that come to mind.

Add the Reusables Area, at the town’s Recycling and Disposal Facility (RDF), to that short but elite list. There are many homes in town in which every room has in some way been “touched by the dump.” A vase in this corner, a side table in the dining room, an area rug—one never knows when the perfect find will present itself, get loaded into the Lex, and given pride of place among the carefully curated interiors of Swellesley homes.

With the area’s limited COVID-driven system that allows drop-off of items and shopping on alternate weeks, along with limited hours for both, the area has become the hottest place in town. When we made our weekly dump run, residents were lined up to shop the tables, patiently waiting behind the Jersey barriers for their turn to be one of 20 at a time allowed to cruise the area in search of treasures.

With the shopping part of the equation ending soon (Fri., Nov. 20 is the final drop-off day; Fri. Nov. 27 is the final shopping day), the Reusable Area’s precious resources are becoming scarce, indeed. Who knew the basic principles of economics would come to reveal themselves so dramatically at the dump?

Wellesley RDF hours

Keep in mind that the Reusables Area’s schedule has no bearing on the rest of the RDF’s doings. You can drop off your recycling, trash, yard waste, and more at these times:

Mon. – Wed.: 7am – noon
Thur., Fri., Sat.: 7am – 3:45pm
Sun., (July 12 – November 29, 2020): 10am – 3pm