Abandoned on the side of Sutcliffe highway, this 'burner' vehicle dubbed the "SinDerella" by a metal nametag on the hood waits without its owner. A note on the hood says "tow truck on the way." Later, driving back, SinDerella was gone.
A trash receptacle behind the Nixon corner store. Burning Man participants were expected to pay the convenience store to use their bins for disposal.
Mitchell Toby and his son, Mitchell Jr. watch Burning Man participants drive by their roadside stand in Nixon. They closed at 5 p.m. on Sept. 4th, the last day of the "Exodus" from the Playa. Toby and son collect discarded items like gas cans, bikes, water containers and tarps. The next morning they give all of the items back to the community on the reservation.
Mitchell Jr. collects bikes that are left or given to him at their stand. He decorates them with "trippy and psychedelic designs" for purchase for next year's Burning Man.
"Everybody loves them" Mitchell Jr says "I get people from all over the world requesting my bikes." Mitchell says that he'll even give his hand-painted bikes away if there is someone who is in need.
Most of the items that are discarded are from international participants. The festival brings over 80,000 people through the Paiute Tribe reservation and the town of Nixon. The residents of the area have come to see the influx of visitors as an economic opportunity rather than an annoyance.
Many items that the Tobys collect can still be used by the residents of the reservation. Items like wheelchairs, PVC pipe and gas cans are valuable to people who might not have access to items like that on a regular basis. They said everybody stops by the next morning to pick out what they need.
The Tobys haul any trash that is not salvageable to the local landfill.
The town of Nixon is the seat of the Paiute Pyramid Lake Indian Reservation, a town at the crossroads of a lake and camping area leading toward the Burning Man's Playa, several cities north. "It's very quiet here" Mitchell Sr. states, "very peaceful."
A line of "burners" getting gas at the Nixon convenience store, identified by the fine white dust that covers their cars from the Playa.
Inventory depleted from the wave after wave of Burning Man customers stopping by The Nixon Store for water and a snack.
This small collection of litter was the highest concentration of trash seen in the area around Pyramid Lake and Nixon.
Scavengers comb through dumpsters, claiming usable items thrown away. There were two spots for trash disposal, this one at Pyramid Lake, the other at the Playa. These dumpsters were the last sanctioned area for trash from Burning Man.
