Donations in red and blue liveries
Image by anthroview
News reports repeatedly say how much of the recorded economic life of the USA is based on consumers who spend money shopping, and for services like recreation or education or health or financial advice. In order to hold onto the ever expanding possessions that come from shopping, gift and hand-me-down (down-cycling, rather than recycling), or from home-made clothing, there only a few options: discard, donate, or defer any decision about things no longer worn: store them (out of sight, out of mind) in basement, attic, or by building a storage structure or renting self-storage space. The blue structure says "clothing and shoes." Since the drop off opening is near the middle, probably the capacity of the container is about to the half-full mark. Both the red and blue agencies that coordinate this operation of collecting, sorting, distributing materials put the containers on skids so a forklift type of machine can lift the full bin and replace with an empty one; or maybe they are emptied each month or week directly from the container in its semi-permanent station. The red container has a larger-than-life smartphone app: perhaps it allows one to create an inventory and receipt, along with documentary photo of the donation in order to claim some value at tax return filing in April.
Things have come a long way since the old horse and wagon driven by the "rag and bone" man who relieved householders of these low-value waste items. On the other hand, just as it was 150 years ago, there are still plenty of poor people who can benefit from donations of shoes and clothing, all over the world but also closer to home.
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