Artist Looks to Beautify NYC Streets—Through Curbside Trash

Adrian Kondratowicz talks to City Limits about the community cleanups he leads with the Trash Project, at a time when volunteer groups fear new city regulations could penalize their efforts.

New York City’s Department of Sanitation isn’t the only one picking up your trash. An army of 76  Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) partner with the city to make it happen too.

And in Harlem, you might spot volunteers turning waste into works of art this spring as they place trash into hot pink, polka-dotted bags on the curb for pickup.

“It’s very efficient artwork. You take the bag, you do a cleanup, you fill it up, you tie it up, you put it there. It’s a sculpture,” said local artist Adrian Kondratowicz, the brains behind the cleanups that turn into art that he has coined the Trash Project.

The Trash Project, Kondratowicz says, started in 2008 with the goal of beautifying streets and creating “environmental awareness.”

Over the years, what began as sporadic interventions to draw attention to the large amount of trash that accumulates on city streets, transformed into scheduled monthly events. From April to November, the Trash Project hosts Saturday cleanups in Harlem’s St. Nicholas Park. Anyone can participate, just check the schedule for these events here.

Kondratowicz also partners with organizations and nonprofits to host community cleanups. The cleanups generate art on multiple levels: Kondratowicz often takes photos at these events and later turns the snapshots into paintings so members of the community can see themselves reflected in the canvas.

Projects like these not only engage the community, but help the city collect some of the massive amount of waste its residents generate, including litter that ends up on New York City streets, Kondratowicz says. New York City produces 44 million pounds of trash per day, according to Mayor Eric Adams. 

Adams’ administration has declared a war on trash, mandating that New Yorkers put all residential and commercial trash in containers, vowing to get rid of rats that dig through the waste and committing to the goal of bringing zero waste to landfills by 2030. 

But recently, members of the volunteer cleanup community like Kondratowicz fear that they will be left out of the equation in what the city’s Department of Sanitation (DSNY) called in an email its “trash revolution.”

DSNY has proposed a new rule that “prohibits the placement” of waste on sidewalks and any public or private spaces. The rule is set to go into effect on Aug. 1 after public comments submitted on the new mandate are reviewed, according to DSNY . 

The idea, DSNY said in an email, is to “have zero bags of trash on the streets” and put them in containers instead to promote cleaner streets and keep rats away. The department says it has already put all commercial trash into containers, as well as 40 percent of residential trash.

Those who don’t comply with the new rule will be subjected to $50 fines for the first offense, $100 for a second and $200 for a third. 

DNSY assures that they are holding one-on-one meetings with BIDs to discuss how they can “keep bags off the curb” in a way that matches “their operational needs.” And while the Sanitation Department ensures that volunteer cleanup groups “will continue to pick up trash in bags as part of a coordinated cleanup,” Kondratowicz fears it could diminish community involvement in trash pick ups. 

“It’s very discouraging for anyone that wants to take care of the neighborhood. All of a sudden they can get a ticket,” Kondratowicz said.“The city should be prioritizing engagement with these types of activities to maximize their efficiency.” 

In an interview with City Limits, the artist spoke about the importance of the project and what trash collection, art and community have in common. 

This conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.

What is the Trash Project and how does it foster community?

The Trash Project is artwork for urban beautification and environmental awareness. You know, it manifests itself in many forms. The main things we do are cleanups, collaborations and awareness campaigns. 

What we provide is an access point in the community, especially in Harlem, where we host a season that’s based at St. Nicholas Park. Every second Saturday of the month, from April to November, we have cleanups. In addition to that, I support different groups and mentor them.

So all these things that happen in the project are engagement points that allow for the formation of community because it brings in a lot of different subcultures and creates something that they can relate to. It’s the idea that this is a movement. And I think that’s why the project originated in Harlem because everything here is a movement. A lot of stuff that happened in Harlem trickles downtown and then goes everywhere else around the world.

Tell us more about how it all started.

The need for this type of action was happening on a couple of different levels. Like, people saw that their community was unkept or maybe had less services. People would knock stuff over and no one in the community comes in and cleans up. So these were the first observations. You know, everyone sees it. No one likes it. There’s no access point to act on it without really getting our hands dirty. And I think the project enables a lot of people to just plug in because we provide all the tools and we create the schedule for all the events. 

And after the cleanups you turn some of the photos you took of these events into  paintings, right?

Yes, I do the paintings because I want people to feel like they’re really immersed. When they see themselves in the paintings, that’s always a big surprise for them and it’s that connection I just want them to feel. I want them to see that what they’re doing through this project is as creative, full of imagination, as anything else that an artist can do. 

So you’re creating multiple artistic uses for something that people throw out?

Well, it turns itself into art. That is the whole point. It’s very efficient artwork. You take the bag, you do a cleanup, you fill it up, you tie it up, you put it there. It’s a sculpture.

Let’s just get people to look at the trash because most people don’t look at it. But I always found those piles [of trash] to be very monumental and sculptural. And by highlighting the form with color and pattern, it kind of makes it pop. 

People already have a narrative built into picking up trash and what trash is. And this completely subverts it for them in a way that creates a new possibility out of that reality. 

It does that by making people notice. When you put something pink in front of them, they already start creating a different narrative than if it were associated with any other color.

And when you do a whole street, you really notice it. And naturally, people started forming meetings around it. And that’s how the community starts forming.

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