Clothing Reuse and Recycling during COVID-19

The pandemic has been very difficult for the used clothing collection industry. Extended closings of second-hand stores, sortation facilities, and international trade routes have caused prices to collapse in the past few months. Like every other business, Helpsy has been struggling to keep our workers safe and our customers happy. 

Despite these difficulties, there is much good news to share. Most other used clothing collectors have shut down for months, but Helpsy has been able to keep collecting continuously thanks to the ingenuity and tireless efforts of our staff. Based on the volume of used goods we have been collecting, it is clear that New Yorkers are spending a good chunk of their lockdown time cleaning out their closets. On top of our regular bin collections, we teamed up in the spring with Harris Residential to offer home pickup of textiles from homes in NYC. Since then we have started collecting from homes in Weschester County via a request page on our website. 

As the city slowly comes back to life, one Covid trend that has sadly not reversed yet is dumping. We have seen a dramatic increase across the state and the whole region of illegal dumping. Clothing collection bins have become the place where unscrupulous scofflaws dump loads of garbage. Old furniture, giant tube TVs, exercise equipment, construction debris, you name it - we have found it outside our bins. We are looking forward to local and state governments taking a more serious stance against illegal dumping and prosecuting litterbugs rather than blaming the victims.