There’s now a giant troll made of trash in South Jersey

A 20-foot troll now has been created in Burlington County as part of a new art installation.

Named “Big Rusty,” the troll is made entirely of trash, or “treasures” as recycled art activist Thomas Dambo calls it. Hikers and art enthusiasts got to meet the trash-adorned troll in Hainesport on Wednesday.

For Dambo, the troll launches his “Way of the Bird King” sculpture series. Dambo and his team of 22 builders will construct 10 permanent sculptures using recycled materials all over the country, including in Vermont, Michigan, and Washington state.

“I’ve tried to convince the world that we should not let the world drown in trash; we should praise our trash and we should see the value in our trash,” Dambo said.

This isn’t Dambo’s first troll series. The Copenhagen-based artist has a number of large troll sculptures across the world, including in France and Germany, after getting his start as a graffiti artist and rapper.

Dambo said his work with conservation art and the troll figurehead itself are derived from his childhood books and time spent as a rapper, where he learned how to create intricate backstories for works of art.

Dambo also said his love for recycled art started as a kid, when he would go dumpster diving with his father, and he wants to show people that “trash can be treasure,” especially amid increasingly large landfills and climate change.

Dambo said he wants to emphasize to those visiting the troll that it’s not just about the troll itself, it’s about the journey to get to the exhibit as well. Dambo said he picked the New Jersey location — off Route 38 near the South Branch Rancocas Creek — because it’s an abandoned pottery studio that’s now being turned into a park.

In fact, some of the scrap materials from the abandoned studio, including parts of the roof and loose bricks, are used for the troll itself.

“I hope that they will see that we can make something of what is just considered worthless or discarded,” Dambo said. “I hope people will see the size of my sculptures and will ultimately just be a marketing campaign for changing how we recycle trash.”