Category: News

NYC’s Department of Sanitation (DSNY) requires all residential buildings with 1-9 units to purchase standard 2-wheeled bins to set out trash for collection, while buildings with 10-30 units will have the option to use these bins or street containers.  Nearly 20% of 1-9 unit buildings citywide have storefronts on the ground floor, so the bins […]

Food waste is the part of garbage that makes it disgusting. When sealed in plastic bags with other trash, food waste putrefies, releasing foul odors and garbage juice, attracting rodents and roaches. When it winds up in landfills, food waste creates leachate and methane that pollute the land, waterways and air. But when food waste […]

Vital City commissioned an article by Clare Miflin and Benjamin Miller on how to best integrate waste containerization into New York City’s streetscapes so it can bring many more benefits than just hiding the trash.

We are in support of NYC’s plans to containerize waste but recommend adjustments for large buildings and walk-ups to better integrate waste containerization into streetscapes and improve labor conditions for building porters. See our recommendations on how to reduce the street space taken up and eliminate permanent bins on sidewalks for small buildings and large buildings. […]

We helped the NYT journalists to understand and visualize DSNY’s proposals for containerizing waste, and were quoted in their article: Clare Miflin, an architect and the executive director of the Center for Zero Waste Design, argues that a different scheme would better address these harder cases. In denser parts of the city, she suggests all small and midsize […]

NYC Department of Sanitation is moving forward on containerization, a strategy we brought to the attention of city agencies in the collaborative development of the Zero Waste Design Guidelines in 2017 and pushed to the forefront with our Put Waste to Work campaign and coalition building for the incoming Adams administration. But DSNY’s approach misses […]

A new case study shows how waste is managed in large multifamily buildings with trash chutes in London. Chute compactors feed straight into 4-wheeled bins which are collected from a bin store room adjacent to the street. International manufacturer Hardall is now setting up in the US. See case study.

On behalf of the Save our Compost Coalition, Clare Miflin worked with Anneliese Zausner-Mannes and Gil Lopez of Big Reuse to present a teach-in on NYC’s Community Composting. View the full recording on Zoom using Passcode 3=r8j&sm See the slide deck here. April 22nd, 2024 Update: Since the Save Our Compost Teach-In in January, the […]

Clare Miflin was a panelist on this Be Waste Wise webinar moderated by Cole Rosengren from Waste Dive, explaining thoughts on NYC’s plans for waste containerization. See the webinar below:

Clare Miflin, Center for Zero Waste Design participated in this panel discussion hosted by NYC’s Solid Waste Advisory Boards, alongside Justin Green of Big Reuse, Frank Franciosi of US Composting Council and Jane Gajwani of Department of Environmental Protection. The panel was introduced by Dior St. Hillaire of Bronx SWAB, GreenFeen and BK Rot, and […]