A Chest Curbed by COVID Closures

As I knelt to capture this picture, I heard a voice over my left shoulder. A woman, dressed in full scrubs, hair net and face mask, which was pulled down, stood on the far side of her car that was parked at the curb directly behind me.

She asked, “You like it?” I say that I do, as I turned around to face her. “It’s a brand new chest from Wayfair. We got it for my mom, but we had to lower her bed because the mattress was too high. It didn’t fit.“

She went on to explain how they took a load of things to Salvation Army but that they were closed for COVID.

“And they’re going to be closed for a minute,” she said, raising her eyebrows with a knowing look.

“I hope someone takes it before it gets damaged or ends up in the trash—it’s brand new! We just couldn’t keep it. We have too much stuff. I told my sister to just put it outside,” she said, deflated.

I nodded in agreement, hoping it was found soon so it could be enjoyed. As she got in her car, Lucy and I headed up the street.

What are the impacts from closed donation centers? How will these impacts metastasize over time? Will donation centers be able to weather this economic storm? What will reduced donation capacity mean for communities, the environment, and the organizations that rely on the proceeds? What would a reimagined system look like? Feel like? Will the make, take, waste system of consumption continue post-COVID as strongly as it did before? Can it? Should it? What do we need to put in place to help ensure a just transition?