The old adage states that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure, but for Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC)’s Danni Goulet it’s also a learning tool – to remind people that their trash doesn’t magically disappear once it’s thrown away.

Goulet, CRMC’s marine infrastructure coordinator, worked to transform some of the trash and debris collected from the dredging of Waterplace Park and adjacent section of the river into a traveling educational art installation. It will be a visual reminder that things we toss on the ground or even in trash cans don’t go away, and can end up in the water, and find their way into the river and the ocean.

When the CRMC and its partners - the City of Providence, the Providence Foundation, project manager The Nature Conservancy in Rhode Island, and the 195 Commission – dredged Waterplace Park and part of the river from the Francis Street bridge next to the Providence Place Mall to the Crawford Street Bridge, it got more than the sand it sucked off the bottom.

In addition to dredging approximately 20,000 cubic yards of material from the river basin bottom, contractor J.F. Brennan, Inc. retrieved 13 scooters, countless bicycles and parts, clothing and shoes, and enough garbage and debris to fill a 30-yard Dumpster.

“That trash cost the dredge project an additional $400,000 in time and equipment,” Goulet said. “We want this installation to not only remind people of where their trash can wind up, but that there are real costs in addition to the environmental costs.”

Goulet wanted this experience to be a “teachable moment” for Rhode Islanders. He dried out the plastic debris and garbage in a City of Providence-owned warehouse space. TNC put out a call for artists, and The Steel Yard responded. With Goulet’s design vision, local welders-in-training, existing project partners and new partners (the University of Rhode Island and Rhode Island Sea Grant, The Avenue Concept, and Rhode Island Waterfront Events) breathed life into the piece of traveling art.

The installation is constructed on a standard landscaping trailer, and is open to the air. Pieces of artfully welded water and marine life are interspersed with plastic debris and sand from the dredge project mixed inside a plexiglass frame. More debris in the form of ropes and netting are woven together with other trash to form the open roof of the structure. The trailer has a doorway and a ramp to make it ADA compliant.

In addition to the dredging, the project also included the construction of a settling basin upstream of the mall, Goulet said. This basin will catch sediment before it reaches Waterplace Park, and is also constructed so that local artists can showcase their coastal-themed art on it.

“We want there to be a space for art installations, as well as a place to fish and walk out,” Goulet said. “This is to extend the life of the dredging already done.”

The project removed road sand and other sediments that have washed into the river over the past 25 years, along with a significant amount of plastic trash that is layered into the river bottom. A support excavator, positioned on a second barge, worked in tandem with the dredge barge, removing larger debris.

Dredged material was pumped through the hurricane barrier to a temporary storage area at the Quay on the East Providence waterfront. There it was dewatered in large geotextile tubes and eventually mixed and stabilized with Portland formula cement to construct a service facility for offshore wind development.

CRMC and TNC co-managed the work through a cooperative agreement. TNC awarded the dredging contract to Michels Marine, a division of Michels Construction, Inc. of Brownsville, Wisconsin, through a competitive bidding process.

More Information and photos:

• Phase 1 — Removed material from bank to bank from the Amtrak bridge under the Providence Place Mall to the Crawford Street Bridge piers
• Phase 2 — Maintenance dredging of the upper Providence River