Phoenix North Transfer Station Project

The city of Phoenix sends approximately one million tons of solid waste to landfills each year. That’s over a half ton of garbage per person per year in Phoenix.  Recycling turns waste in to valuable resources while reducing the need for more landfill space.  Currently, 120,000 tons of residential solid waste is processed for recycling each year in Phoenix. Much of this waste is taken to the North Gateway Transfer Station and Materials Recovery Facility in North Phoenix before it is sent off to be recycled. In 2008 Artist Paho Mann made nearly 6000 photographs of individual pieces of recycling at the transfer station.  This site allows users to sort through the images made for the project using keywords such as the type of object, color, and use.

Central to Mann’s understanding of this project is that looking at what we own and consume reveals something about our identity and culture, and that this examination underlines the importance of making thoughtful choices in what we do with these objects.

To read Mann's Project statement click here.

Using This Website

This website offers visitors multiple ways to interact with the images made at the Phoenix North Transfer Station and Materials Recovery Facility. The ‘Sort’ tab allows users to filter through the images made for the project.   Multiple keywords can be added to narrow the displayed images.

The site also includes a gallery of static images created by organizing groups of images culled from a database.  Twenty of these images can be seen as prints at the North Gateway Transfer Station and Materials Recovery Facility.

Commissioned by the City of Phoenix through the Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture’s Public Art Program.