Mr. Trash Wheel will finally get a female companion on December 4, when Professor Trash Wheel starts spinning in Canton.
The Waterfront Partnership will unveil Baltimore’s second trash-collecting device during a community event at Harris Creek Park, 2515 Boston Street, on Dec. 4 from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. Mayor-elect Catherine Pugh, who will be inaugurated on Dec. 6, is scheduled to participate.
Professor Trash Wheel is the second trash collector of its kind. The first device, Mr. Trash Wheel, was installed where the Jones Falls meets the Inner Harbor in May 2014 and has since collected more than one million pounds of trash.
It has done such a good job that the Waterfront Partnership’s Healthy Harbor Initiative raised funds for a second trash-collecting wheel where Harris Creek meets the harbor.
The company responsible for creating both trash wheels, Clearwater Mills, is building more around the world. Ziger Snead is the architect for the Baltimore trash wheels. Officials provided a sneak peak at the second trash wheel today during an early morning press event.
“It’s because of the love from our public and their strong desire for a clean and healthy harbor that Professor Trash Wheel was made possible. And it is because of their support that we have asked the community to join us in welcoming her,” said Adam Lindquist, director of the Healthy Harbor Initiative.
More than $550,000 has been raised for the installation, operation and maintenance of Canton’s trash wheel. Donations have come from the Maryland Port Administration, Campbell Foundation, Clayton Baker Trust, National Aquarium, Island Foundation, Rauch Foundation, Baltimore’s Water Taxi, the Canton Car Wash, MOM’s Organic Market, 1212 East Apartments and H&S Bakery.
At a fundraising event earlier this fall, the Waterfront Partnership disclosed that the new trash wheel will be female and highly educated, with a degree in ‘trash studies’ and a focus on the Chesapeake Bay. As it did with Mr. Trash Wheel, Federal Hill-based Key Tech will be donating customized five-foot tall eyeballs to help bring her to life.
And that may not be the end of it. At a recent ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new regional headquarters of Exelon Corporation at Harbor Point, Waterfront Partnership president Laurie Schwartz announced that her organization is exploring plans for two more trash wheels in the city. She did not say where they might be.
