Shelby never fails to attract notice.

“She gets me a little attention,” says Sanders Wright, Jr. with merriment in his voice. “I don’t mind a little attention here and there.”

Wright is talking with pride and delight about the recycling truck that he has driven for the past five years or so. It was one of 10 vehicles that the Department of Public Works wrapped in different large-scale vinyl artworks in 2015 as part of its “Designed to Recycle” initiative in conjunction with the Commission on the Arts and Humanities.

“Oh people, they love it—especially the children, I’m telling you,” Wright tells DCist. “The kids are like ‘look, Mommy, look’ and I toot the horn for them. Not the big one, but the little city one. They jump up and down, they smile, they just love the truck.”

Now Shelby and the rest of the original “Designed to Recycle” fleet will be joined by 15 trucks wrapped in new designs. The first two hit the streets on Friday morning, and two more will be rolled out weekly until early September.

“It’s not every day that you get to outfit a recycling truck,” says Nicole Hamam, whose design “Waste Not” is featured on one of the vehicles that debuted its new look today. “It looks awesome. It was a lot of fun [to see it in person].”

As a graphic designer, Hamam says she wanted to do something bold, and was particularly inspired by many of the graphic murals that have been painted around town in recent years.

“I wanted it to have subject matter and colors that were surprising and not what one would think about, you know driving a trash or recycling truck,” she explains about the oversized cherry blossoms, graphic rowhouses, and bold lettering in pink, blue, and yellow. Hamam has seen her own work on large-scale posters before, “but nothing on a moving vehicle and something as neat as this.”

A D.C. flag-inspired wrap designed by Michael Marshall also hit the streets Friday morning.

Hamam and Marshall’s designs and the other 13 all carry more direct messages about recycling and environmentalism than the batch that preceded them.

“My hope is that they inspire citizens to remember the vital role they play in the city’s sustainability efforts,” Department of Public Works Director Chris Shorter says via email.

Another design, Carly Rounds’ “Recycled Fish,” is an underwater scene constructed almost entirely out of recyclable materials, including batteries, tin foil, and cardboard.

As she did research for what to include, “I started learning that you can recycle a lot more things than you think,” says Rounds, who is a graphic designer by trade.

And that’s part of the point of the whole project: to get people involved and engaged.

“The wrapped trucks make people notice our employees in a way they might otherwise not, and gives residents the opportunity to talk with our crews about something other than collection schedule,” says Shorter, adding that the department’s employees love driving the art-covered vehicles and often compete to get assigned to them.

Shelby was one of 10 trucks wrapped in 2015 as part of the “Designed to Recycle” initiative. (Photo by Elvert Barnes)

Wright confirms that after Shelby was wrapped, he noticed a major difference in the way people would respond to him and his crew. Once she was outfitted in an artwork that looks a bit like a cartoon made out of Legos, Shelby became much more recognizable. Neighbors were able to see it was a city truck, as opposed to one of the private sanitation vehicles that also roam the streets.

“The feedback has been tremendous,” Wright says. “They get to know us, they bring out goodies and things like that. And we explain to them what goes in the trash, what goes in recycling.”

Rounds says she is particularly excited for it to hit the road so her two young children can spot her work driving by and “see me as a superhero for a moment.”

The Commission on the Arts and Humanities provided funding for both rounds of the project. In addition to the 15 new designs, five of the originals will also be rewrapped so they stay fresh.

As for the drivers who are getting their own wrapped vehicles in the weeks to come, “they should be excited,” Wright says. “But Shelby is mine.”