Trash as a learning tool: mobile exhibit turns junk into art

MADISON, Wis. — A new mobile art exhibit is using trash to get residents to re-examine their relationship with it.

Trash Lab, which is housed in an accessible 27-foot-long repurposed cargo trailer, is a mobile art exhibit with interactive stations, photographs, video footage and plenty of data about our relationship with waste and consumption.

“We are excited about the new opportunities the Trash Lab will bring to our educational efforts surrounding waste and renewables,” Dane County Executive Joe Parisi said. “We thank the Madison Children’s Museum for their partnership on this project and look forward to kids throughout Dane County being able to explore and learn about the work that goes on at the Dane County landfill.”

Trash Lab visitors will learn about a circular consumption waste system focused on building things to last longer before they’re eventually repurposed and/or recycled. The exhibit also highlights the social justice, economic, and environment effects of our consumption and waste habits.

The exhibit first launched in mid-February during the opening weekend of the Winter is Alive! festival. It was created as collaboration between the Dane County Department of Waste and Renewables and Madison Children’s Museum.

“The Department of Waste and Renewables is doing amazing work at the County’s Rodefeld Landfill — how many people know that they’re already capturing methane from the landfill to clean it and feed it into the system that powers part of the County truck fleet?” said Brenda Baker, the museum’s director of exhibits. “We’re honored to play a role in helping them tell their story. They’ve inspired us to dig deeper into our own sustainability work, and this exhibit will likewise inspire visitors to live more sustainability.”

Trash Lab was built using materials that otherwise would have ended up in the landfill. The project also used reclaimed wood and stone and other assorted objects. In addition, all of the exhibits in the trailer were built to be removable so the Trash Lab can be reverted to a trailer at the end of its life.

Dane County officials said the Trash Lab will be permanently housed at the Dane County landfill as part of the county’s public tours of the landfill.