“I love this job. It’s one of the greatest jobs in the world,” Molina says. He didn’t just hold his nose and toss bags into the Department of Sanitation truck. He became an expert at finding “treasures” in the trash.
Molina salvaged over 50,000 items from the garbage and put them on display in what he calls a “secret museum” in Manhattan. He hopes the city will turn it into a real museum soon.
“I love this job. It’s one of the greatest jobs in the world,” Molina says. He didn’t just hold his nose and toss bags into the Department of Sanitation truck. He became an expert at finding “treasures” in the trash. Molina salvaged over 50,000 items from the garbage and put them on display in what he calls a “secret museum” in Manhattan. He hopes the city will turn it into a real museum soon.
The place is like Antiques Roadshow — on steroids. There are tables crammed with glass vases, gold jewelry, silver candelabra, decorative clocks, electric guitars and violins that all still work.
“Everything here came from the trash,” Molina tells CNNMoney, gesturing at the tables, which hold everything from cowboy hats to stained glass windows a church tossed out.
“If I didn’t take it out of the garbage, this would be in a landfill,” Molina says.
Some of the items are likely worth a lot of money. He has Star Wars trinkets from when the film debuted and baseballs signed by about every Yankees superstar. He even has a book signed by the actress Bette Midler, who recently won a Tony.
To read the full story, visit http://money.cnn.com/2017/07/06/news/economy/new-york-city-trash-museum-nelson-molina/index.html.