Waste is a design flaw—in our packaging, products, buildings, and cities. Natural ecosystems recycle materials indefinitely in circular loops, but human-designed systems discards over 90% of materials within six months of their extraction from the Earth. As trained architects and urban designers, we develop design strategies for circular zero waste systems, from the micro-scale of a trash bin to the macro-scale of the city and region.

Our design strategies embrace three key principles:

Reduce consumption through sharing, maintaining, fixing, and reusing.

Manage the flow of discarded stuff in buildings and cities efficiently and effectively.

Circulate products and materials for reuse, refill, or recycling.

See the guidelines and case studies we have worked on below:

Zero Waste Design Guidelines

The Zero Waste Design Guidelines address the crucial role that design plays in achieving NYC’s ambitious goal to send zero waste to landfills by 2030. The Guidelines encourage the collaboration needed to dramatically reduce waste and work toward greater adoption of circular material flows.

Waste Calculator

We developed a waste calculator to figure out the volume of waste that a building will generate. See how reducing waste generation, increasing waste diversion and using volume reduction equipment can reduce storage requirements.

Delivering the Goods: NYC Freight in the Age of E-Commerce

Delivering the Goods: NYC Urban Freight in the Age of E-Commerce is a report issued by AIANY’s Freight and Logistics Working Group which outlines the impacts of urban freight on NYC, offering innovative and equitable solutions to counter the burdens imposed on communities by the movement of goods and waste.

Put Waste to Work

Put Waste to Work is a vision plan for how New York City can transform its interconnected waste management system, so that all New Yorkers can enjoy vibrant streetscapes, healthy neighborhoods, and clean sidewalks.