a different sort of may day
When Ruby Re-Usable (of Olympia Dumpster Divers) invited me to post about the annual decorative dumpsters event (it’s today!) I had to think about it.
While they have been celebrating the insides and outsides of the lowly dumpster for years in their charming city (home to the dichotomous duo Evergreen State College and Evergreen State Government), we in Seattle, not so much. I couldn’t think of a single pleasingly decorative dumpster I’d seen in my city. But always up for a challenge, I agreed.
In my experience, dumpsters take one of three forms in Seattle:
1. Pristine – either with original color and signage intact or a fresh coat of paint.
outside a favorite thrift store - Crown Hill Value Village
The latter necessitated because so often dumpsters are…
2. Defaced – taggers leave their marks on nearly any flat surface.
behind all-ages night club Studio Seven
In urban areas, dumpsters also attract criminal activity, thus, the third category…
3. Nonexistent – consistent with other big cities, our newest trash contract for downtown Seattle eliminated dumpsters in favor of bagged garbage. Nothing decorative here.
across from Pioneer Square's Occidental Park
What’s a blogger to do?
I tasked my roving photographer husband to watch for artfully adorned dumpsters. We both kept our eyes peeled this week, in hopes of finding the genuine article, but alas, no luck. We’ll have to travel south for some good viewing. You can too by looking at photos here and here or checking out these blogs: The Visible Trash Society or Everyday Trash or Olympia Dumpster Divers.
P.S. Coming soon – a post about an embellished waste receptacle of another kind. Aren’t you intrigued?
am totally looking forward to your post about “embellished waste of receptacle of another kind”, meanwhile, Happy Decorative Dumpster Day!
Thanks – I will be in search of interesting dumpsters to photograph for the event next year!