Empowering communities to drive progress

Conceptual project

Wasteless 

Strategizing to decrease the amount of waste produced in NYC

Solid waste, including food, plastics, and paper, and its transfer are a major contributor to pollution, air quality decline, water contamination, and their related health problems. 

As an overarching goal, New York City is aiming to reduce 30% of gas emissions by 2030 and although progress has been made, it is time for the city to instill in its residents awareness and urgency, and the need to take action locally. PlaNYC specific objectives are: (1) reach the cleanest air quality possible in any US metropolitan city, (2) redirect 75% of solid waste away from landfills, (3) reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30%, and (4) increase community resilience and infrastructure to face climate change risks. 

NYC's waste management system has a vast impact on communities and their environment. Every year, NYC generates over 14 million tons of waste and recyclables. Solid waste from food products alone contribute to 27,000 tons of waste per year. More than 6,000 trucks carry food into the city and then collect waste from across the five boroughs for hauling to transfer stations and recycling facilities. Transfer stations are concentrated in the Bronx, Queens, and Brooklyn. 

From transfer stations, materials are then taken to their final disposal landfill, exported or sold. Only the Bronx manages 31% of waste from all five boroughs to be transferred outside city limits.

The greatest problem with NYC waste management resides in the simple fact that too much waste is produced. So initiatives to implement more environmentally friendly trucks can help, but they are not tackling the problem from the root. Reducing the amount of waste can be more cost-effective and practical than developing the technology to care for the growing amounts of waste. 

Wasteless proposed to reduce waste by diverting packaging materials from recycling centers and landfill, to reusing or recycling. By reducing the amount of waste, fewer trunks will be needed, communities will be engaged and educated for resiliency and self-regulation purposes and eventually solid waste contamination and air quality could improve. 

Wasteless takes the concept of "bring your own" to a deeper level by proposing a legislation to pass a citywide ordinance to have supermarkets offer refilling stations or bulk bins for food and cleaning products. Customer will have the option to bring their own container, or buy one at the location. Consequently, they will also be able to buy personalized amounts of products instead of over-purchasing. 

The most effective way to minimize the impacts of solid waste is to reduce the amount of waste generated in the first place, and this can be done by also generating a more healthy, equitable, and sustainable market system. 

PlaNYC (2011). 

Hunts Point Peninsula (Reviewed on November, 2013). 

Project collaborators: Priya Dedhia, Apple Taobai Qi, Kathleen Mejia, Yvette Marie Santiago.