DSNY Invites Artists to Beautify Garbage Trucks

The Department of Sanitation is seeking artists to turn their garbage trucks into works of art. Photo courtesy of DSNY

By Victoria Merlino

These trucks are going to clean up nicely.

The Department of Sanitation encourages both professional and amateur artists from across the city to submit designs for its first-ever “Trucks of Art” project, which will see 23-ton garbage trucks transformed into moving paintings.

“This is the first time we're transforming our collection trucks into artists' canvases,” Acting Sanitation Commissioner Steven Costas said in a statement. “Trucks of Art is also a zero-waste challenge: Artists will encourage recycling or honor New York’s Strongest by using paints that would otherwise go to waste.”

To apply, artists must submit a short description of their ideas, design mock-ups, a short explanation of why they want to be selected for the project, as well as contact information and a biography to TrashTalk@dsny.nyc.gov by March 31. Artists’ designs must theme around sustainability or the department’s workforce, and if selected, will be placed on the nearly 400 square feet available on the front, back and sides of the trucks. Artists will not be compensated for their designs, but they will retain the rights to them.

Selected designers will have the opportunity to paint the trucks in April with donated paints that would have otherwise been discarded, a nod to the department’s initiative to send zero waste to landfills. Trucks will be unveiled in late April or early May and then will begin their routes within the city.

To learn more, visit http://nyc.gov/truckart.