Baldwin County Recycling Center Mural | Summerdale, Alabama
Alabama mural artist Banks Compton created this large-scale environmental mural for the Solid Waste Disposal Authority of Baldwin County's recycling and education facility in Summerdale, Alabama.
Painted across a corrugated-metal water tank, the mural uses colorful characters and visual storytelling to help explain what happens to the things we throw away—from the moment waste leaves our homes to recycling, processing, and disposal.
Turning Recycling Education Into Public Art
Client: Solid Waste Disposal Authority of Baldwin County
Location: Summerdale, Alabama
Artist: Banks Compton
Project: Environmental Education Mural
Artwork: Large-scale exterior water tank mural
Theme: Recycling, waste, sustainability & environmental education
Completed: 2025
Project at a Glance
From Home to Recycling Center
The mural follows the journey of everyday waste through a series of interconnected scenes.
Objects and characters move through a landscape illustrating the relationship between our homes, the things we throw away, recycling, and the facilities responsible for processing those materials.
Rather than separating education from the artwork, the information is embedded within the visual story.
Young visitors can first experience the mural as a colorful collection of characters and scenes, then begin discovering the larger environmental message as they look more closely.
Art With an Educational Purpose
The Baldwin County recycling facility was designed not only to process materials, but also to help the public better understand what happens to waste after it leaves the curb.
For the mural, the challenge was to take a complicated process and turn it into something colorful, approachable, and memorable.
Instead of relying on text or diagrams alone, the mural uses characters, objects, movement, and storytelling to introduce visitors—especially children—to ideas surrounding recycling, waste management, and environmental responsibility.
The result is public artwork that functions as both a landmark and an educational tool.
Painting an Industrial Water Tank
The mural was painted directly onto a large corrugated-metal water tank at the facility.
Unlike a traditional flat wall, the curved surface and vertical corrugation presented unique challenges for both the design and painting process. The artwork needed to remain visually readable across an industrial surface while also being large and colorful enough to make an impact within the surrounding facility.
Transforming infrastructure like tanks, silos, and industrial buildings through public art can completely change how people experience spaces that would otherwise be primarily functional.
At the Baldwin County facility, the water tank became part of the visitor experience rather than simply part of the background.
From Mural to Educational Exhibit
The imagery created for the mural eventually extended beyond the water tank itself.
Elements from the artwork were adapted for an indoor educational exhibit and a mobile educational trailer, allowing the visual language of the mural to continue throughout the facility's environmental education programming.
This created a consistent experience in which the same characters, imagery, and environmental themes could appear across multiple formats.
The project demonstrates how a mural can become the starting point for a broader visual identity rather than functioning only as a standalone piece of artwork.
Public Art and Environmental Education
Environmental topics can be complicated, particularly when explaining systems such as recycling and waste management to younger audiences.
Art offers another way to communicate those ideas.
Color, characters, storytelling, and recognizable objects can make technical information more approachable while encouraging visitors to look closer and ask questions.
For Banks, the Baldwin County project was an opportunity to combine two important functions of public art: transforming a physical space and helping tell a story that matters to the community using it.
Creating Art for Baldwin County
As an Alabama mural artist working throughout Baldwin County and the Gulf Coast, Banks has created artwork for public institutions, tourism destinations, businesses, educational facilities, and community organizations.
Each project is developed specifically for its location and audience.
For the recycling facility, that meant creating artwork capable of engaging children and families while supporting the educational mission of an active industrial facility.
The finished mural turns an ordinary piece of infrastructure into a colorful landmark while helping visitors understand the larger journey of the materials they use every day.
About Banks Compton
Banks Compton is an Alabama mural artist and RISD alumnus creating large-scale murals and public art throughout Alabama and across the United States.
His work combines storytelling, nature, local culture, environmental themes, and site-specific imagery to create artwork rooted in the communities and environments in which it is located.
His projects range from public murals and community landmarks to artwork for libraries, educational facilities, businesses, tourism organizations, and industrial spaces.
Planning a Public or Educational Mural in Alabama?
Banks works with cities, environmental organizations, schools, museums, educational facilities, public agencies, businesses, and community organizations throughout Alabama and the Southeast.
Murals can incorporate environmental education, local history, community stories, youth engagement, wayfinding, and other site-specific themes while transforming functional spaces into memorable public landmarks.
