New York City Garbage Museum: Sanitation Officer Collected Incredible Collection Of Discarded Treasures

Trash is said to be another's treasure, and former New York City Sanitation Officer Nelson Molina is the living embodiment of that cliché. For over 30 years, he traveled through piles of trash to create a large, carefully curated collection that currently occupies the entire second floor of DSNY's Upper East Side garage. It is known as the Garbage Museum. More details about this unusual museum were told by the publication Gothamist.

Molina began collecting "treasures" along the way over 20 years ago with the simple intention of giving his garage corner a little finesse. However, his accumulation quickly caught on as some of his colleagues began adding strange little things to his collection. Atlas Obscura.

The bulk of his collection was collected between 1981 and 2015, when he was on active duty in Carnegie Hill and East Harlem, collecting trash in the area bordering 96th Street, Fifth Avenue, 106th Street and First Avenue writes Open Culture.

At the end of each shift, he hid the day's finds in the garage. With the support of colleagues and superiors, his hobby expanded beyond his personal space, filling the dressing room, and eventually spreading to the huge second floor of Manhattan's 11 East Sanitary Garage, after which it was declared an unofficial museum with the unconventional name Treasures in the Trash.

The links can be visited Facebook и Instagram the museum.

Everything from exotic lamps to fake flowers and pieces of pop kitsch is carefully scooped out of the garbage stream of upper Manhattan, but everything that ends up in the collection is Molina-approved. The collection is not organized in any formal way, but Molina tends to group items by size, general theme, and color.

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Molina's collection may seem random, but old figurines and dolls from past Christmas holidays, silent films flickering on a projector screen, furniture and appliances create a tapestry of nostalgia. To see all these gems of the past, you would have to walk through the homes of hundreds of New Yorkers over the course of decades, but in a museum, it only takes a few steps. One of Molina's most valuable items is the Star of David, created from metal found at Ground Zero to commemorate the 11/XNUMX victim.

Former colleagues Molina admire his unmistakable instinct to know when there is something worth saving in an inconspicuous trash bag, from autographed books and baseballs to deeply personal memorabilia such as photo albums, engraved watches and wedding designs.

There is also a fair amount of seemingly disposable junk - outdated consumer technology, toys, and collectibles that in retrospect turned out to be just a quirk.

Some of the items that Molina sets aside for display and recounts in Nicholas Heller's short documentary seem to have significant resale value.

Although Molina retired after raising his six children, he continues to run the museum, looking at treasures rescued by other sanitary workers.

“Right now, the collection has some logistical issues,” said Maggie Lee, DSNY's case manager. They are planning to move from their current location and will need to find a new home for Molina's accumulated treasures.

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“I don't know what the New York City Department of Sanitation is going to do with collection in the future,” said another employee. "The collection is an important part of New York's history and culture, and we hope that somehow it will be preserved."

“Sometimes I come here and look at everything I've done. It makes me feel good, ”Molina said. “I just want it to go to a museum or something. I don't want everything to be wasted. "

He said that he was raised to repair, not throw away - a practice he used on Christmas Day when he gave his siblings the toys he saved and resurrected.

“Since childhood, my mother always taught us not to throw anything away. If she couldn't fix something, then no one could do it, ”Molina said. "This is how I learned to select and save everything that people can use."

This principle of frugality makes up most of the pleasure he gets from his collection.

Stealing things from the trash for personal use is taboo in the sanitation world, but since the bizarre collection is meant to be viewed privately by workers, Molina's beautiful treasure has been allowed to remain.

Anyone looking to get a glimpse of this treasure trove of beautiful wreckage can contact the city to request access, but sanitary workers are allowed at any time. You can also wait for a special exhibition or tour.