Optimization of cleaning and drying processes during cotton ginning requires rapid evaluation of trash content. Scanning video color and rash meters now under evaluation be the Cotton Division, Agricultural Marketing Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, for measuring trash in ginned lint during gin processing. Trash area and trash prediction equation which correlated with reference laboratory methods and yielded R-square values above 0.70. Comparison of trash measurements from two trash meters produced R-square values of 0.90. After successful static evaluation and comparison of several trash meters, three were installed in a small-scale ginning system. This dynamic evaluation of the meters yielded to justify further testing and incorporation in a gin process control system.