ST. LOUIS – The basement of Kate Walter's home had been overtaken by Christmas decorations, her grown children's grade-school art projects and a dining room set that once belonged to her ex-husband's parents.
August was the breaking point. Walter made a call to 2nd Life Junk Removal, and in less than three hours, a truckload was hauled out of her home and a weight was lifted off her shoulders.
"You tend to accumulate a lot of things, and there comes a time when you need to relinquish it and let it go," Walter said.
That time came for many people during the homebound days of the pandemic. Junk-hauling companies have been taking more calls than ever, packing their trailers with sagging mattresses, threadbare couches and dust-covered treadmills. And all of that trash has led to a boom of sorts in the junk industry, helping startups get started and veterans expand.
Micah Bounds, owner of Florissant, Mo.-based 2nd Life, doesn't have much to compare the rush to. He started his company just weeks before the first coronavirus case was reported locally in March.
He delayed the initial advertising campaign while he waited to see how everything unfolded.
"It was nerve-racking," Bounds said. But pretty quickly, clients found him.
The reality television series "Hoarders" depicts junk haulers deftly dismantling mountains of possessions in houses overrun with trash and vermin. But those circumstances are exceedingly rare, haulers said. Most jobs are one-item pickups, such as an old recliner that is tricky to maneuver up a staircase or an extra refrigerator that has taken its last breath.
