Denver's Grand Masterpiece: DADS

Zachary Finken

September 11, 2013

Denver’s Grand Masterpiece: DADS

While some people wish to escape debts, the grind of eight to five desk-work or break free from prison, the one thing they will never escape is the downward spiral of having to figure out where to put all their trash. For most, the answer is collecting it inside the house then taking it outside the house where it will disappear before the end of the day thanks to local trash trucks we see in the photo above. Others like artist Chris Jordan create inspiring trash-based pieces and innovative people are now even creating homes out of trash. Little do the people of Arapahoe and Denver counties know, they are also creating their own art just outside of Aurora at DADS; a masterpiece that won’t be complete for approximately 129 years and that will require the help of each citizen and visitor.

With millions of people working everyday to complete the community’s masterpiece, it’s disappointing to see what the DADS landfill actually looks like. When I imagined the site before visiting, I pictured deep canyons full of trash on top of more foul trash that the landfill management, in this case Waste Management, would top off with dirt after the entire hole was full. However, my visit to the landfill greatly differed from my premonitions. What happens to the nose cringing trash smell between trash pick-up on the street and the ending dump-off at DADS is a mysterious phenomenon. To my surprise, the air smelt Colorado-fresh and my Grand Trash Canyon was nowhere to be found but my reaction to what I did find instead left me in awe. As I stood atop one of the trash mounds and realized that digging down would lead me to over a hundred feet of trash. What could be found in all that trash? Very likely something I threw away on a visit to Denver multiple years before or ramen noodles I threw away just this week. My participation in the accumulation of all this buried trash underneath my feet became apparent and real. The photo above shows not only my connection but everyone else in the community’s connection to the landfill as well. I give my trash directly to the trash pick-up and it is directly dumped in the landfill. Not only my own waste is deposited here but enough waste from enough people that it will take longer than my entire lifespan to fill up the site.

Intriguingly, the DADS landfill is more intricate than it appears with methane gas harnessing technology operated by Waste Management. It seems so simple; the trash is buried and the gas rises, is trapped and processed.  But in reality the trash from millions of people is only powering the homes of a meager 3,000. We cannot continue to bury our problems at DADS for 129 years with such a low yield of output. As Fritjof Capra suggest, “the more we study the major problems of our time the more we come to realize that they cannot be understood in isolation. They are… interconnected and interdependent.” The problem of trash grows faster than humans can work to contain it. The boomerang effects it produces in our daily lives make the journey to solving such an interconnected and interdependent situation an arduous and lengthy process. Having the opportunity to be involved in the process and walk on top of the DADS landfill was an eye-opening experience yet reassuring to now know where my trash will go after I dismiss it into trash can oblivion.