Franklin Street Rubbish the Raccoon sculpture shares Earth Day message -

“A lot of the Haw River [Assembly] work is joyful, but it’s also kind of depressing to pick up trash month after month,” she said. “So to collaborate with Nyssa, to build something that’s beautiful and tragic, is really rewarding and fun.”

For Collins, the sculpture represents the large amount of disposable plastics people use every day. According to the Earth Day Network, close to 80 percent of all plastic is still in landfills or the natural environment.

Steve Wright, the public art coordinator for the Community Arts & Culture division of the Town of Chapel Hill, said the sculpture serves to highlight the importance of recycling properly.

“It's a cool way to clean the water system and reuse [trash] in an artistic way,” he said. "and call attention to if you sit there and look at it, you’re like, ‘Woah, all of these bottles were in Bolin Creek, that’s a drag, we need to do better.'"

Ultimately, the sculpture will be retired, and the plastic bottles will go into recycling. Its removal will make way for the next temporary sculpture, which will be commissioned in honor of LGBTQ+ Pride month.

Rubbish the Raccoon will have a two-month residence on Franklin Street, and its next steps remain unknown.

“Over the next couple of weeks, we hope to sort of figure out, ‘Could this exist and continue to display elsewhere in the public realm?’ and if so, let’s try to find a place, because it’s really cool,” Wright said.

Haley said that the Assembly is currently working on collecting trash for another sculpture, which will debut at the Haw River Festival on May 4.

Collins said she plans to continue to experiment, but she wants community members to think about their use of single-use plastics.

“For students — I wish that they would minimize use of single-use plastics, and be really conscientious when they’re using those,” she said. “Because artists can find other materials, we’ll always find another way, so no need for them to go through all these bottles.”

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