Earth Promise: Dumpster Diving Makes a Big Splash

I love the three R’s: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. The most innovative projects and products derive from this mantra, especially the Reusing.

In May I posted a blog about refurbishing cargo containers into homes and office spaces:

“Vacant steel shipping containers sit taking up ample space at ports. Believe it or not, it is more expensive to ship these empty containers back to their country of origin. Instead, new ones are purchased from Asia; thus there is an excess supply of cargo containers. There is no financial incentive to ship the containers back. With the recycling initiative in mind, reusing our resources puts these idle pieces to use.”

This morning as I was listening to NPR, a fantastic Reusing project was highlighted: Dumpster Swimming Pools. Yes, a summer oasis located in an undisclosed location in Brooklyn, NY, made from those large, smelly trash receptacles. Don’t worry, they are thoroughly cleaned, seams are sealed up, bottom is filled with sand for a soft bottom, then lined with a heavy duty plastic. Lastly they are filled with chlorinated and filtered water.

These urban repurposed trash containers are the creation of Jocko Weyland, renowned skateboarder, and the Manhattan design team at Macro Sea. This is actually not a unique concept. One was originally constructed by rocker, Curtis Crowe of the band Pylons, in Georgia.



The artistic, collaborative team wanted a transferable country club atmosphere in the most unexpected location. They found an empty lot and began the project. The prototype pools are made in an H-formation with a wooden deck. Here, people (who are privy to the special invitation) can lounge, BBQ, and even play bocce ball. A true refuge from the intense New York summer sun.

Some may feel this project is not overly earth-friendly. Dumpsters are not fated for the dumping ground . The concept of using what we already have and not creating something new is the goal. Maybe Macro Sea can go a step further and use the steel cargo containers that are destined for the landfill.

Watch the video of the making and brains behind the dumpster pools.