From Garbage to Greenery: Dumpster Gardens

If you live in a city or urban area, the prospect of having some green space to call your own may
seem far-fetched. When your primary inhabitance is a concrete jungle, you usually have little to
no choice but to forego a piece of land to call your own. While this does make it difficult to
incorporate some greenery into your cityscape, don’t give up just yet. Dumpster gardens are the
newest way to create green spaces that are both convenient and mobile. If you’re unsure about
such an atypical use of a dumpster, read on to find out why you should create one of your own
right now.

1.Up-cycle

Up Cycle in coffee mugs

Via Inhabitat

Like most everything imaginable, dumpsters get old, break, and are replaced as time goes on.
Disused dumpsters aren’t difficult to come by, which means there is no shortage of unused
dumpsters waiting to be repurposed. Creating a dumpster garden is the perfect way to up-cycle
an old trash receptacle into something exciting, new, and full of life. Instead of destroying or
abandoning these large containers, convert them into something that can not only be enjoyed,
but also gives back to the earth at the same time.

2. Green the City

Via Weburbanist

While most cities do have some degree of green space to be found, whether in the form of a
park, garden, or other natural area, most residents don’t get the privilege of enjoying a yard of
their own. With the convenience of being transportable to just about anywhere, dumpsters allow
for a small
botanical oasis
in the midst of your local metropolis. Simply pack it with soil, and
allow trees, shrubs, flowers, produce, or whatever your heart desires to flourish.

3. Grow Your Own

When the place you call home is an urban jungle, any hope for fostering your green thumb is
usually unrealistic. However a dumpster garden can be the ultimate solution to the dilemma
faced by insufficient land areas. The need for sustainable food sources in overpopulated, highly
impoverished cities is critical. The ability to grow fruits and vegetables can help low income
residents to provide their families with nutritious foods they may not be able to afford otherwise.

4. Express Yourself

While a dumpster garden may revolve around the plants you put in it, it has the potential to
become much more. Take for example Michael Bernstein, whose Ten Yards Project has
transformed actual trash into treasures through the creation of dumpster gardens for the
Sculptor Center in Long Island, NY. Anyone can acquire a disused dumpster and re-envision it
as their own personal piece of art. Express your creativity in the look of the dumpster itself,
whether through paintings, words, or any other adornments, as well as what you put inside.

5. Inspire Others

Just as any piece of art will inspire, a dumpster garden can do the same. It can inspire others to
create green gardens of their own, inspire visionaries to repurpose dumpsters in new ways, or
inspire hope in this and future generations. Hope that no matter how industrialized our world
gets, we can and will always find a way for the environment to shine through. By serving as a
modest but actual piece of land, the gardens can evoke discussions on the lack of green space
in cities, and inspire more people to take action against such a misfortune.
As time goes on, we face the inevitable reality that more and more areas will encounter
urbanization and be further development, leading our already dwindling areas of green
landscapes to be further reduced. While we may often feel like there is only so much we as
individuals can do, every person possesses the power to take proactive steps towards change.
Garden dumpsters are one small step that we can take towards bringing nature back into our
cities, art back into our communities, and hope back into ourselves. If a garden dumpster might
be of interest to you, contact Cali Carting Inc. to find out how a simple trash container can fit your imagination.
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