Keeping good clothing in use, and out of the dump

Why I started this

For years, this has been my life: finding things people no longer want — sometimes literally out of a dumpster on the way to the landfill — and getting them back into the hands of someone who actually wants them. Eight brand-new blood-pressure cuffs, still sealed in their original packaging. A 1960s horsehide café-racer jacket. A drum machine made in Japan in 1999. None of it was junk. It had real value; the previous owners were just too busy with their own work and lives to do anything but throw it out.

I've done it countless times. I find what's headed for the landfill, recover the things that still have life and demand, and rehome them with people who appreciate them. I get paid for that — and honestly, it's a community service: that value would have been buried otherwise.

Abq Reclaimed is me offering to do that for you. You don't have to figure out what's worth saving or haul anything anywhere — set out the stuff you're done with, and I'll rescue what still has life in it and get it to someone who wants it. Whatever can't be sold, I route to the best reuse and recycling I can find. Free, by hand, every time.

I'm still one person, with the same limited time and space as anyone — so the fastest way to start is to text me a photo or two first at (505) 250-3804. A picture lets me tell you quickly what's worth a trip, and lets me be honest when it isn't. I can't save everything, and sometimes I'll have to say no — but I'll always tell you straight.

A few things I've reclaimed

Not donated to me — pulled from the waste stream over the years. Every one found a home:

• Eight brand-new blood-pressure cuffs, still sealed in their original packaging — back in use instead of a landfill.
• A 1960s Bates horsehide café-racer jacket — recovered and resold to someone who'll actually wear it.
• A working Boss DR-770 drum machine (made in Japan, 1999) — a new owner instead of a dumpster.
• A tested Nikon L35AF point-and-shoot film camera — found a new owner who'll actually shoot it, instead of the trash.
• A several-thousand-pound industrial heat exchanger — pulled off a trailer with my forklift and stripped down: the working electronic components resold (some as far as the UK), and every pound of copper and steel recycled. Nothing landfilled.

And it's often not the whole thing — it's the parts inside what people write off as dead. A tested foot pedal from a broken sewing machine. The control box out of a busted adjustable bed. Armrests, brackets, caster wheels, and forks stripped from wrecked wheelchairs. Somewhere, someone is trying to fix the exact same item, and that one part is what they've been hunting for — I've shipped them all over the country. Old calculators, too, like an HP-15C or an HP 32S II: the kind of thing that sits in a drawer until it ends up in the trash.

That's the difference between "broken" and "worthless" — most of the time, there isn't one.

A few dollars or a few thousand pounds — same story every time: real value, almost lost, given a second life. That's exactly what your pickup feeds into.

A wall of real reclaims

Not stock photos — these are actual things I've pulled from the waste stream and put back into use, shot in my own warehouse. A sewing-machine foot pedal, a power-wheelchair cable, an 1890s leather Jane Austen set, a Boss drum machine, an industrial contactor: different worlds, same story every time.

Every one of these was headed for a landfill or a dumpster until it wasn't — sold, rehomed, or on its way to someone who wanted it. That's the whole job.

What I believe

Almost nothing is really trash. It's mostly value nobody had time to recover.

Clothing, gear, tools, instruments, electronics — a huge share of what gets tossed could be worn, played, used, or fixed again by someone who'd be glad to have it. I'm the person with the time and the eye to catch it before it's buried. That's the whole job: keep good things in use, and out of the ground.

Here's where being a reseller actually matters to you. A thrift store has to move donations by the ton, so a lot of genuinely good things get sorted by volume and never reach the person who'd have wanted them — undervalued, or never sold at all. I'm the opposite of that: one person, by hand, who's spent over two decades learning what has real value and who's looking for it. So when you'd otherwise drop your good stuff in a bin and hope for the best, give it to me instead — I'll get it to a real buyer or user, recycle what I can't, and tell you exactly where it went. You don't get paid for it; this is free pickup and I keep the resale value. What you get is the certainty that your good things got used, not buried.

The one thing a thrift store can't do

Because I personally handle every pickup, I know exactly what I collected from your door — and where each piece ended up. So a few days after I come, I send you a Reclaim Receipt: a short, honest note telling you where your stuff went and how much it kept out of the landfill. Drop a bag at a thrift store and it disappears into a sea of bins; you never hear another word. I'd rather close the loop.

How the pickup actually works

It's about as simple as it gets. You request a pickup, I confirm a day, you leave your things out, and I collect them for free. Want the full walkthrough? See how it works or what I take.

Where your stuff goes

Usable clothing, shoes, gear, and goods are sorted and rehomed through reuse and resale channels so they get used again. Items too worn to use are passed to recycling partners. The goal at every step is the same: keep material in use and out of the ground. I dig into the details in my guide on what happens to your donated clothes.

Proudly local

I live here, I drive these routes myself, and I'm invested in keeping Albuquerque a little greener — one closet, garage, and curb at a time. Every request helps me learn where the need is and expand where I can reach.

Request a pickup →