Middletown Launches Trash/Recycling Art Sculpture Contest

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — Hey, Middletown residents: Looking for an incredibly quirky start-of-summer project the kids can do now that they're home from school? Or perhaps even adults want to try their hand at this:

The Middletown Department of Public Works and the Middletown Arts Center are seeking trash sculptures to display at Middletown's new outdoor Ecological Garden at the Public Works/DPW building (52 Kanes Lane).

As Patch reported in April, Middletown will be building an eco-garden at the town recycling center; construction is supposed to begin this summer. The garden will have composting areas, native plants, a pond, a "garbage garden" and even an outdoor classroom area so Middletown schoolchildren can learn about this unique public facility.

And Middletown DPW is seeking trash sculptures to display outside the new garden — yes, really!

Turn your everyday household trash and recycling into something beautiful, artistic, three-dimensional and unique. The contest is open to any children, adults, families and organizations that live or are based in Middletown. Entries should be made entirely out of clean trash or recyclable materials, although artistic embellishments can be added with waterproof paint. All artwork should be free standing, sturdy and weather-proof; Middletown wants to display the entries outside in front of the Kanes Lane DPW building for an extended period of time. Dimensions of up to four feet high and wide are suggested.

The deadline to submit sculptures is 4 p.m. Aug. 8. Entries should be dropped off at the Middletown Arts Center (36 Church Street). The winners will have their sculpture displayed outside the garden and at Middletown Day 2021. Winners will receive a gift bag that includes a gift certificate to the Middletown Arts Center.

For more information or to enter the contest, email jticino@middletownnj.org

Also this past spring, Middletown announced it will be making a series of upgrades to the town recycling center, which will require Middletown to open a temporary recycling center next to the current center and the satellite recycling center (located at the Middletown Train Station).

Middletown said its Recycling Center became increasingly well used, especially in the past year of the COVID pandemic.

Improvements to the Middletown Recycling Center will include:

• Increasing access and efficiency to the recycling drop-off bins
• Improving traffic circulation
• Allowing room for the expansion of recyclable commodities in the future
• Ensuring ADA compliance to both the Middletown Recycling Center and Administrative Building
• Building the eco-garden

Middletown will pay for the upgrades using a combination of municipal tonnage grants, ADA funding, and revenue from the resale of recyclables.

Once it's open, the eco-garden will be included in educational tours of the Recycling Center that Middletown currently provides to children of all ages.

Tour groups will have the opportunity to walk through the "Garbage Garden" and see creative ways to repurpose items that were disposed of at the Recycling Center.

Visitors will also see an example of a rain garden that uses "catchment systems" to water native New Jersey plants. They will also have the opportunity to plant their own seeds using the leaf compost that was collected during the Township's curbside leaf pickup.

Keep reading: Middletown Will Build An Eco-Garden At Town Recycling Center (April 22)

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