NOT SO SWEET

The Museum of Ice Cream sounds dreamy, but it has a big eco-problem

Museum of Ice Cream, a surreal storefront tribute to our favorite frozen dessert, has for months been a sold-out fairyland destination for tourists and selfie-seeking celebrities alike. ❚ But now it’s being dogged by a controversy anchored to an unlikely culprit: rainbow sprinkles. ❚ Few would have expected the backlash when the museum opened its pop-up space here last fall on the heels of pop-ups in Los Angeles, Miami and New York: Fines in two cities, a petition demanding its highlight exhibit shut down, inspections from city officials.

The attraction’s piece de resistance is a pool filled to the brim with rainbow sprinkles, where visitors can dive in and fling the faux ice cream toppings into the air. It’s every 5-year-old’s dream and the perfect backdrop for grown-up selfies.

The catch? The sprinkles are made of plastic that can attach themselves to visitors and be swept into storm drains when they leave.

Things went sour when visitors started tweeting about finding sprinkles on their clothes, scattered in their homes, on the sidewalks near the museums and in gutters.

Beginning with the museum’s Miami location, storm clouds punctured the museum’s image as environmental concerns mounted.

“The sprinkle pit was a great idea in theory, but its implementation was a mess,” said Dave Doebler, cofounder of environmental organization VolunteerCleanup.Org, who first raised complaints about the sprinkle pollution in Miami.

The startup running these roaming exhibits was founded in 2016 by Maryellis Bunn and Manish Vora.

The idea was less educational center and more art gallery playground. It worked. Kim Kardashian and Beyoncé have posed against retro pink pay phones and alongside giant melting popsicles.

But company founders say they’ve turned the corner on these sprinkle-based complaints.

In September, the San Francisco location will switch to water-soluble plastic sprinkles, according to museum staff and San Francisco Public Utilities Commission spokespeople.

And for the past six months, the museum has been paying “sprinkle cleaners” $15 an hour to sweep off plastic sprinkles from visitors.

The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission says it monitors the museum to make sure it keeps the surrounding area free of sprinkles.

The changes are aimed to keep the almost 100 million tiny plastic bits out of area waters.

Moving the pool

The complaints against the hip museum heated up in December. Doebler uploaded a video of the streets outside the museum’s Miami location covered in sprinkles.

The city of Miami fined the museum $5,000. The city of San Francisco followed with a fine of $500.

Both exhibits made adjustments. The museum moved the sprinkle pool to the beginning of the tour. It hired cleaners and posted instructions asking guests to shake any sprinkles out before leaving.

In June, outrage over the San Francisco sprinkle pool bloomed again in the form of an online petition started by activist organization Care2 calling for the museum to get rid of the pool until a biodegradable alternative can be rolled out.

Rebecca Gerber, senior director of engagement for Care2, visited the museum last year.

“It’s really easy to excuse away a few sprinkles in your hair or stuck to your shoes. … Until they come up with those alternatives, it’s probably not worth the selfie to hurt the environment.”

USA TODAY At the museum, visitors can dive into a pool filled with plastic sprinkles. Trouble is, the sprinkles are finding their way into storm drains.

DAVID DOEBLER In December, a storm drain outside the museum’s Miami location was full of the tiny pieces. The museum says it is switching from plastic to a greener option.