‘Treasures in the Trash’ Short Film

In 1981, Nelson Molina was hired by New York City as a sanitation worker. Through his three decade plus tenure that lasted through 2015, Molina would collect items of interest from the trash on his router in East Harlem. This collection of items grew to include over 45,000 unique pieces that were all cataloged and organized to create an unofficial museum of sorts dubbed Treasures in the Trash on the second floor of the M11 garage. Nicolas Heller is a filmmaker that created a short film with the same name–Treasures in the Trash–that chronicles the creation collection of books, video games, toys, art, ephemera and everything else that would become part of the museum. The collection isn’t currently open to the public because it’s part of an active garage, but they hope to get a proper space for it with the help of the film you’re about to watch. Learn more at The Foundation of New York’s Strongest.