New York City has been able to survive and flourish for hundreds of years, but nowadays, excess trash in New York City is threatening a variety of aspects of its sustainability. The first, and most obvious, aspect of sustainability that trash threatens is the city’s ability to keep itself clean and odorless. With a population of 8.6 million it is not surprising to think that New York City produces about 14 million tons of waste annually.[1] The reality is that this abundance of trash produces a smell that New York City residents are all too familiar with once the temperature starts to warm up. Additionally, trash is constantly piling up on the street as a result of its abundance.
Two more prominent threats to sustainability are created by diesel trucks that transport garbage outside of Manhattan. First, is the threat of furthering pollution and climate change due to the carbon dioxide emissions that these diesel trucks produce when they transport garbage out of Manhattan. These diesel trucks carry garbage 7.8 Million times each year, which is the equivalent of driving around the earth 312 times.[2] This alone will create a serious amount of carbon dioxide emission, but to make matters worse, “only 10 percent of the garbage trucks carting putrescible waste in New York City meet 2007 EPA emissions standards.”[3] Second, is the threat to New York City residents’ health that is also caused by these polluting trucks. These trucks often drive through lower income neighborhoods such as in south Bronx and north Brooklyn and they create five to seven times higher asthma-inducing pollutant levels.[4] Additionally, pollution from these trucks causes “3,000 deaths, 2,000 hospital and lung conditions, and approximately 6,000 emergency department visits for asthma in children and adults annually.”[5] These are only a few of the threats to sustainability of New York City that garbage poses.
While there are a variety of sustainability issues that garbage creates in New York City, there are also problems that are specifically of New York City concern. The city is known for its smelly, garbage filled streets and polluted air. Trash bags are piled up on the curbs and the sidewalks due to New York City’s dense population as well as its many skyscrapers. New York City is the largest city in the world’s most wasteful country. It generates more than 14 million tons of trash each year. Furthermore, New York City’s status as America’s densest city, which is demonstrated by its narrow streets and traffic jams, makes it harder for the city to collect all that garbage. Also, the city has no available land for landfills leaving us with no other options but to take it upstate or ship it off to another state. In 2012, New York’s public and private waste management systems spent a combined 2.3 billion dollars on garbage collection and disposal. With this amount of money spent it might be more cost efficient and green to make an innovation which will not only allow us to deal with the cost of cleanup, but may even be useful in making something from the 14 million tons of trash a year. Clearly, trash is a prominent problem that is deserving of New York City’s attention.
[1] http://www.columbia.edu/~sc32/documents/ALEP%20Waste%20Managent%20FINAL.pdf
[2] https://www.businessinsider.com/why-new-york-city-smells-in-the-summer-2016-6
[3] http://transformdonttrashnyc.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Final-draft-v3_TDT-Air-Qual-Report_Clearing-the-Air-1.pdf
[5] and approximately 6,000 emergency department visits for asthma in children and adults annually
Even though garbage in New York City seems to be a daunting problem to solve, there are a variety of solutions that the city can employ to curb this problem. We already turn water bottles into fleece, plastic bags into deck material, roofing into pavement. But ideas abound for more-futuristic forms of recycling. Mitchell Joachim, a co-founder of Terreform One, a design firm based in New York, proposes crushing trash and molding it into Tetris‑esque blocks that we could use to build islands and skyscrapers. Joachim’s firm has created architectural plans for a 53-story tower made with the waste New Yorkers produce in 24 hours.
America is the lead creator of waste on the earth, making approximately 30% of the world’s trash and tossing out 0.8 tons per U.S. citizen per year. Ungracefully, our American value system is somewhat distressed. It seems value has devolved into feats of rampant affluenza and mega products scaled for super-sized franchise brands, big box retail, XXXL jumbo paraphernalia, etc., encapsulating a joint race for ubiquity and instantaneity in the U.S. mindset. Where does it all end up? Gertrude Stein cleverly pointed out; “away has gone away”. The first step we must take is reduction; meaning a massive discontinuation of objects designed for obsolescence. Then we need a radical reuse plan. Our waste crisis is immense, what is their call to action?
New York City is disposing of 38,000 tons of waste per day, mostly ending up in Fresh Kills landfill before it closed. The Rapid Re(f)use project supposes an extended New York reconstituted from its own landfill material.
With their method, we can remake seven entirely new Manhattan islands at full scale. Automated robot 3D printers are modified to process trash and complete this task within decades. These robots are based on existing techniques commonly found in industrial waste compaction devices. Instead of machines that crush objects into cubes, these devices have jaws that make simple shape grammars for assembly. Different materials serve specific purposes; plastic for fenestration, organic compounds for temporary scaffolds, metals for primary structures, and etc. Eventually, the future city makes no distinction between waste and supply.
Target Dates
March 12th: Initial Group Project Proposal Due
- Isaac: How using trash for infrastructure relates to sustainability
- Alon: Why NYC should be concerned about its growing trash issue
- Grace: Trash → Growth and Infrastructure Solution
- Masha: Discussing Terreform ONE in Depth
- Lauren: Detailing Project Target Dates
March 19th: Group Facetime call to divvy up the progress report
March 23rd: Each group m
ember must submit their portion to the joint Google Doc
March 24th: Peer review to eliminate errors and revise/add any missing components
March 26th: Detailed Progress Report Due
April 9th: In Class Working Session
- Deciding on roles to help prepare the presentation
- Choosing graphics/links to incorporate
April 11th: Library meet-up to continue working session
April 15th: Evening Facetime call to review each other’s contributions
April 16th: Presentation Practice 1
April 30th: Presentation Practice 2
May 3rd: Group Facetime call to review roles and practice prior to conference
May 4th of 5th: Future City Conference
May 6th: Group Facetime call to discuss our successes, faults, tips to improve our presentation skills, and ways to implement our plan’s sustainable values
Isaac Weinstock, Grace Kassin, Lauren Rahmanim, Alon Bezalel, and Masha Formitchova
