The work from home life was killing me so I sought out a way to connect to the community and get out of my house on a regular basis. Earlier in the summer I applied to be a cashier at a local junk shop up the street from my house. I was seeking low-lift, low risk, part-time accountability that balanced well with my design workload. I wasn’t hired for the cashier role, but because of my background in fabrication and design, I was hired on as the repair technician. FUN! This was a new role for the organization and an eye-opening opportunity for me.
The reuse economy is thriving. It dawned on me that the only metrics we collectively see for economic health are capitalist. This is only a partial view of how people are meeting needs and solving problems. There is a deep network of recycle and reuse opportunities that aren’t quantifiable, even more so in the found economy. The value exchanged is often times greater than the value of the item or even the price tag. The organization, Reclaim It!, has a unique business model that thrives on donations and being the only organization with access to remove items from the metro transfer station, aka The Dump. Most of the overhead comes from space rental and employing 5-10 people. The rest of the operation thrives at the hands of a diverse Board and workforce of volunteers as young as 16 up to 80 years old. This is where you start to see the value beyond compensation. Multi-generational and culturally intersectional groups of folks stand in communities with the same mission, to reduce waste.
There is a collection point at the transfer station, Recology. The main domestic waste pile is gleaned by three people on the floor at a time; this number is for safety. As you might imagine, the culmination of household and small business waste from a metropolitan area is quite a chaotic site to see. Trucks hauling deposits to smaller sorted piles of concrete, metal, or appliances; and of course, the pile. The pile is where most furniture, toys, tools, and bulk supplies are found. Gleaners pull items that need small repairs or bulk items to be used for parts. They load up carts making sure to avoid other patrons or the crushers that periodically compact the pile. This is an exciting and highly sought after role in the organization, and it is 100% volunteer based.
The gleaned items make their way to the retail shop, Reclaim It! where they are received by a modest staff and a team of volunteers to sort, clean, and repair the items. This process takes about a week to incorporate all the new items into the retail shop. The customer base is hyper local, most folks stop in just to see what’s new each week. While others come through for DIY, interior design, or arts missions. This eclectic hub creates an alchemy similar to Finnish mythology’s Sampo device. Sampo is an object constructed by a blacksmith and provides riches and good fortune to those who possess it. Think, horn of plenty style.
If you can think it, the pile will provide. It is remarkable, the things that have manifested before my eyes. Everything from an industrial printing press to an entire supply of glue sticks and a new glue gun. The cyclical nature of preservation churns with a strong and volatile energy because it knows how precious this balance is. It takes a certain type of person to dig in trash. Most folks wouldn’t bother, but people who have been through it in life can say some of their greatest moments were discovered when feeling discarded or abandoned.
Please enjoy the fruits of our collective labor, and if you are in Portland, please visit ReClaim It!, Rebuilding Center, Lovett Deconstruction, Community Warehouse, Community Cycling Center, and Free Geek for all the beautifully restored housewares, cycling needs and electronics!