Vanderbilt Avenue Open Street is the largest volunteer-run program of its kind in Brooklyn. We worked with the Prospect Heights Neighborhood Development Council, who manages the program, to design solutions to reduce and containerize all residential, commercial, and litter bin waste. Some of our recommendations are implementable immediately, and others require coordination with the city.
Through grant funding from the Association for a Better New York (ABNY), we worked alongside the Prospect Heights Neighborhood Development Council (PHNDC) to design solutions to the proliferation of waste on the Open Street.
On weekends during the summer, Vanderbilt Avenue operates as a pedestrianized “Open Street,” facilitating social gathering in the street and outside the many restaurants, cafes, bars and retailers operating the length of Vanderbilt Avenue. This increased pedestrian traffic and use of the street as a communal space is at odds with the current waste management arrangements, which place residential and commercial waste on the sidewalk. Trash and recycling bags on the sidewalk are visually unappealing, obstruct access, cause increased litter and attract rats.
To determine the scale of the problem and opportunities for improvement, CfZWD undertook a variety of activities including: attitudinal surveys of local residents, business operators and visitors; visual surveys of the streetscape at peak times for residential, commercial and litter basket waste; estimates of quantities of each waste stream; and a characterization study of litter basket waste.
The project activities concluded with a number of findings. Businesses largely set out waste in bags and recycling participation is mixed; levels of trash on the Open Street were noticeable to visitors and residents. Residents are in favor of organic waste collections; there were also calls for containerization, removing trash from the sidewalk, and installing public recycling bins.
Street litter bins were found to contain a large proportion of drinks cups and takeout containers, with a similar proportion of recyclable containers. During Open Street hours street bins were sometimes surrounded by trash bags between collections.
Residential waste quantities were estimated to be suitable for a containerization project at the current collection schedule.
Recommendations included the establishment of a Zero Waste Business program; encouraging businesses to use reusable container programs for coffee cups and takeout containers; advocacy to encourage the city to containerize residential waste; investigation of a shared waste contract for businesses once the city’s Commercial Waste Zones are implemented; segregation of recyclables in temporary street waste bins; and the establishment of a communal organic waste collection program for residents.