4. Wasted Opportunities
CURRENTLY DESIGNATED FOR RECYCLING
THROUGH 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 RECYCLING
THROUGH 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

6. Every year the 5 boroughs generate 14 MILLION tons
of waste
2,000 government trucks I 4,000 private trucks collect it
all

9. Construction, Termites
Demolition Waste
Organic Waste Pigs
Toxic Waste Mycroremdiation

10. Left overgrown for 50 years...

11. 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.
Article
Radiolab at North Brothers Island

12. Subterranean Termite

13. 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.

14. 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.

15. Interesting Facts Continued...
Live in the soil
Underground nests
Travel around 100 yards
Termites Swarming

16. Scale Implications

17. PlaNYC

19. 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.