CURRENTLY DESIGNATED FOR RECYCLINGTHROUGH DSNY COLLECTION

• paper: newsprint, cardboard, and mixed paper• plastic bottles and jugs• glass containers• metal cans, foil, and other household metal items• beverage cartons

NOT CURRENTLY DESIGNATED FOR RECYCLINGTHROUGH DSNY COLLECTION• other types of plastics besides bottles and jugs• other paper: napkins, tissues, paper plates and cups, laminated paper• organics: including food scraps, yard trimmings, and other organic

materials• electronic waste: including TV's, monitors, computers, cell phones, and

other electronics• textiles and carpets• construction and demolition debris (C&D)• household hazardous waste• miscellaneous inorganics

*From the Department of Sanitation, NYC Mayor’s Office

Wasted Opportunities

Every year the 5 boroughs generate 14 MILLION tons of waste

2,000 government trucks I 4,000 private trucks collect it all

Construction, Demolition Waste

Organic Waste Pigs

Termites

Toxic Waste Mycroremdiation

Left overgrown for 50 years...

Now a bird sanctuary, the island is currently abandoned and off-limits to the public. A dense forest conceals the ruined hospital buildings, and from the 1980s through the early 2000s it supported one of the area's largest nesting colonies of Black-crowned Night Heron.

Radiolab at North Brothers Island

Article

Subterranean Termite

Interesting Facts:

• Termites cause more damage to American homes than tornadoes, hail storms, windstorms, and hurricanes combined.

• Termite damage to homes cost Americans more than a billion dollars each year.

• Termites have been around for more than 240 million years -- and they show no sign of leaving any time soon.

Subterranean Termites

Castes:• Workers, are the termites who do all the damage. They are responsible for

finding food, tending the young, and feeding the reproductives and soldiers.• Reproductives, reproduce. The primary reproductive in any termite colony

is the queen, who regulates every aspect of the colony's life through a complex system of chemical messengers that we are just beginning to understand.

• Alates, or "swarmers," who are winged reproductive termites produced by mature colonies, who set off to establish colonies of their own.

• Soldiers, whose job is to protect the colony from predators and intruders. Soldiers typically are present only in mature colonies.

In nature: The job of termites is to eat dead trees and thus return essential nutrients to the soil. Predators: The occasional bird or woodland animal seeking a tasty treat.

Live in the soil

Underground nests

Travel around 100 yards

Termites Swarming

Interesting Facts Continued...

Scale Implications

PlaNYC

I’m working on visualizing ways to communicate possible implementation of alternative waste management and playing with what that may look like. Shown next is a series of trash cans called “Wild Bins”. The Problem-> I constantly find myself stopping to read the labels on the trash cans at school to properly dispose of waste. The Solution-> The idea behind “Wild Bins” is to make recycling a thoughtless act with the hypothesis that if it’s thoughtless then more people will do it right and more often. I see the design of a traditional trash can as an opportunity to educate the public and to get them to be part of improved waste management instead of relying on the government.