The Trash Museum

Hartford is known for a lot of things, from almost being the home of the Patriots in the '90s, to almost being the worst city in Connecticut, before everyone remembered, ugh, Bridgeport. Aiming to make B-port complain "that should be in our city!!", Hartford's Trash Museum.

Located exactly where you'd expect a museum about trash (in the shadow of the airport), TTM's a 6,500sqft "ode to rubbish" comfortably nested inside a real-life recycling plant (and outfitted with carpet/furniture made from old detergent bottles) that teaches the benefits of reuse through exhibits, trash sculptures, hands-on displays, and tons of real garbage, also a band only liked by Pail Kids. The fun begins in a massive, arched, floor-to-ceiling Temple of Trash built entirely of refuse ranging from car tires and detergent bottles to cereal boxes and license plates, before moving to highlights like a colorful wall mural that traces the history of trash from modern day back to 400BC, though the only person who realizes Tila Tequila's that old is her overworked plastic surgeon. There're also curiosities like a cross-sectioned diagram explaining the inner workings of a landfill/trash-to-energy facility, an exhibit showcasing how much waste one dude produced in a single year (titled, no joke, Sustainable Dave's), and a windowed upstairs viewing area complete with closed-circuit TV where you can watch workers sort trash until it's crushed or baled, though even trash doesn't deserve to be told, "for f-sake, man, you're an amateur!"

If you're still clamoring for more (and why wouldn't you be?), there's even a sister Garbage Museum down the road in Stratford that rocks a 24ft long dinosaur o' debris called the Trash-o-saurus to go with a mascot affectionately known as Phillup D. Bag, also a popular phrase at most of, ugh, Bridgeport's banks.