Design Strategies and Case Studies for a Zero-Waste City

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(PDF)The Zero Waste Design Guidelines is a resource for designers, building operators, and planners, with design strategies and case studies showing how to dramatically reduce waste and work towards circular material flows. Applying design to improve the city’s current waste system will improve sidewalks and buildings as it lessens the inequitable environmental and human impacts of the current system in the city and beyond.

The Guidelines address the crucial role that design plays in achieving NYC’s ambitious goal to send zero waste to landfills by 2030 as outlined in OneNYC. The report was developed with more than 100 collaborators—including architects, planners, developers, city officials, waste haulers, recycling experts and building managers — all engaged in multidisciplinary workshops at New York’s Center for Architecture. Over 40 buildings were visited and we held discussions with porters and supers to fully understand waste collection issues across building types.

The Zero Waste Design Guidelines are made possible with support from The Rockefeller Foundation and were authored by Clare Miflin, Juliette Spertus, Christina Grace, and Benjamin Miller. The development of the Guidelines led to the formation of the Center for Zero Waste Design.