Getting to Zero: Zero Waste Design Guidelines

Join us for a special evening to conclude Open House New York’s Getting to Zero, a yearlong series exploring New York City’s waste system.

Over the course of the past year, through tours to waste-to-energy plants and recycling facilities and diversion centers, Getting to Zero revealed the vast network of spaces that keep New York City clean, healthy, and functioning. But as the social, environmental, and economic costs of our waste continue to multiply, it is clear that if New York is to achieve its ambitious goal of sending zero waste to landfill by 2030, we need to fundamentally rethink they way we manage garbage in the city.

The release of the Zero Waste Design Guidelines is an important step in that direction. The guidelines were developed through a collaborative process that involved over a hundred individuals and visits to more than forty buildings, following the path taken by waste from initial disposal to collection at the curb. They help designers, developers, and building operators transform buildings to reduce the amount of waste generated, reconceive of waste as a resource, improve our streets, and help the city reach its zero waste goal.

Join us to learn more about the Zero Waste Design Guidelines and the crucial role that the design of our built environment plays in ensuring a cleaner, more sustainable future for New York.

The Zero Waste Design Guidelines are an initiative of the Center for Architecture, in collaboration with the AIA New York Committee on the Environment, Kiss + Cathcart Architects, ClosedLoops, and the Foodprint Group, with support from The Rockefeller Foundation.

Guidelines Presentation
Clare Miflin, Kiss + Cathcart, Architects
Christina Grace, Foodprint Group
Benjamin Miller and Juliette Spertus, ClosedLoops

Panel Discussion
Clare Miflin, Kiss + Cathcart, Architects
Elizabeth Balkan, Director of Policy and Senior Advisor, Office of the Commissioner, NYC Department of Sanitation
Emily Kildow, Sustainability Manager, Taconic Management Company M
oderator: Cole Rosengren, Staff Reporter, Waste Dive

Organized by
Open House New York and Center for Architecture