Dumpster Art

The City of Borger relies on dumpsters for most of its municipal waste management. Some of these dumpsters are prominent features in public spaces, notably at parks and along South Main Street. Make Borger Beautiful Committee (MBB) Volunteers worked with the City’s Public Works and Administration to help beautify these dumpsters. The objective is to improve the appearance of our public spaces, encourage interest and participation in art, and promote more responsible attitudes and behaviors towards waste management in our community.

MBB’s first effort at dumpster art was lead by MBB Committee Chairman Jesse Shuffield, working with a group of Panhandle FFA Youth for their summer volunteer project in partnership with Xcel Energy in Summer 2019. Following this the Committee started experimenting with more strategic approaches to painting dumpsters.

The 5 dumpsters in the first image below can be found at Huber Park and were part of the Make Borger Beautiful volunteer’s follow-up efforts on Dumpster Art. Clay Renick, the director of the Hutchinson County Historical Museum (HCHM) suggested holding a contest, and the first Borger Dumpster Art Contest was initiated. It was jointly sponsored by MBB, HCHM and the City of Borger.

Keep reading to find information about the Dumpster Art Contests and check out the slideshow of work and our Youtube video from the first dumpster art contest (top of page).

Make your art part of our community!

Dumpster Art Contest submissions will re-open in February 2024.

Details

The City purchases new dumpsters every year and they are approved in the annual budget process. Make Borger Beautiful is encouraging all citizens to participate in the beautification of some of these dumpsters. At least one more contest will be hosted, and ideally this will become a sustained grass-roots effort that will provide fresh artwork for public spaces every year, with or without contests.

The first contest was completed on October 31st, 2019 and Borger High School artist Kayli Spickes was selected the winner! You can find the 6 colorful new pieces of art on South Main Street. The second contest was completed in the summer of 2020 with social distancing in place over 9 dumpsters were painted and placed on Main St and other locations. Make Borger Beautiful Committee volunteer Glendon Jett facilitated this project, working hand in hand with the Public Works department and City Administration to make this effort possible. Without the dedicated work of volunteers like Mr.Jett and his wife, Denise, projects like this one would not be what they are.

Please contact dthomas@borgertx.gov if you would like to become a part of this program.