One Man's Trash Is Another's Museum Piece

Hidden on the second floor of an East Harlem sanitation garage lies one of New York City’s most fascinating art galleries. This carefully curated assortment of oddities is not the work of any acclaimed art collector. Instead, this collection of odds and ends, named “The Treasures in the Trash Museum,” was compiled by a sanitation worker Nelson Molina over the course of 33 years on the job. Molina discusses how and why he began this project.

Watch The Guardian's video about The Treasures in the Trash Museum below:

One of our producers was also treated to a tour. Here are some of the things she saw.

Recovered albums, discs, and cassettes, played on recovered players

(Jessica Miller)

The exclusively white ceramics section (Jessica Miller)

Fancy clocks and cabinets

(Jessica Miller)

The small back room where the whole thing started

(Jessica Miller)

Running out of wall space

(Jessica Miller)

War memorabilia

(Jessica Miller)

Furniture... and discarded college degrees

(Jessica Miller)

Signed items

(Jessica Miller)

Bobble heads

(Jessica Miller)

Typewriters

(Jessica Miller)

Paintings and stained glass

(Jessica Miller)

New York City, this is your trash. (Jessica Miller)