Not everything that fills our landfills should really be there

As you clean for Pesach, think about the stuff you’re throwing out. Is it really as worthless as you think? Could be that some of what you’re throwing out actually still has worth. In fact, some people have found extremely valuable items that were headed to the trash!

A Whole Museum

If you were a sanitation worker, chances are you’d probably hold your nose and throw those bags in the truck without looking at them too closely.

But that’s not how Nelson Molina works! He’s probably one of the most famous sanitation men in New York. He’s been on the job for 34 years and loves it, even calling it “One of the greatest jobs in the world!” Many years ago, he began paying attention to the things people were throwing out. Some were quite unusual or beautiful.

It’s such a shame for these items to end up in a landfill, Mr. Molina thought.

So he started collecting them. His friends at the sanitation department got in on the fun, putting aside items they thought he’d appreciate, and soon his collection of discarded trinkets grew. Workers from other boroughs even started dropping off contributions for him. Of course, many items were broken (there’s a reason they were heading to the garbage!) but Mr. Molina mended or fixed over 40,000 items, and ta-da, they were good as new.

Now, Mr. Molina is married and you can just imagine what his wife said when he started that hobby (“Very nice, dear, but please don’t bring your work home with you”). Luckily, he found the perfect spot to display his collection: in the sanitation department garage on 99th Street in Manhattan. The second floor of this garage isn’t strong enough to support garbage trucks anymore, and it quickly became an impromptu art gallery showcasing hundreds of paintings, photos, posters, bottles, tricycles, toys, and numerous other objects, all rescued from the garbage. People are allowed to come and check out this unusual display, now called The Museum of Trash — a reminder that not everything that fills our landfills should really be there.