The Hamburg sanitation department does a great job. But the media usually ignore the daily work of the garbagemen as long as everything runs smooth. That's why you only notice the binmen when they are on strike and the garbage is piling up. We were asked to generate positive media for the troops in orange, to show their dedication and their love for the city. So, in a city full of culture and arts the garbage collectors became artists. We transformed two 1.100 litre trashcontainers into giant pinhole cameras, just by putting large sheets of photographic paper in the back and drilling a small hole into the front. With this 'trashcams' we asked the garbagemen to photograph their favourite places.

They produced black and white prints of stunning beauty that where presented at the renowned Bucerius Art Forum opposite the Hamburg town hall. The pictures took the media by storm, spreading the unique view of the garbage collectors that know every backyard of the city. ZEIT Magazin one of the biggest weeklies focusing on culture started with a 3-page spread of the trashcam pictures, followed by BILD, the biggest German tabloid and more than 100 newspapers, national television, apps and blogs. With little more than a garbage container and a roll of photopaper the trashcam project generated a huge media response and overachieved in the main task: we did not only make the people of Hamburg aware of their binmen, we made them proud.

We started with a call for entries asking the garbagemen of Hamburg for their favourite places. Then we spent two weeks with the binmen finding the best places and views and shooting the trashcam pics.

The best motives where developed 1:1 (106x80 cm) and exhibited. 3 weeks before the exhibition we started to pitch the idea to the most influential art editors. We decided to go with ZEIT Magazin as it has by far the highest circulation (1.34m readers) and is targeted to people interested in lifestyle, fashion, design and culture.

The exhibition drew local and national media alike. There was no change in plan but what was intended to strengthen the bond between the people of Hamburg and their garbagemen soon became a countrywide media phenomenon.

The Trashcam Project performed in the media far better than expected by the client and the agency. The exclusive preview in ZEIT magazine reached 1.34m readers nationwide. A total of 15.2m contacts in print and television was accompanied by more than 240m visits in online media.