With expanding urban populations and evolving consumption patterns, cities are faced with challenges pertaining to waste management. Traditional approaches centered on collection and disposal currently seem inadequate in the face of serious environmental concerns and resource scarcity. Waste management has become a focused topic to address, being introduced as a key strategy towards circular economies. The Zero Waste concept hopes to transform the way cities manage urban waste and build supportive cultures around it.
As the world witnesses an unprecedented exodus from rural to urban areas, cities face a monumental challenge: how to accommodate a constantly growing population? This phenomenon, characterized by rapid population growth and increasing density, puts pressure on resources, infrastructure, and urban services. As significant problems demand even larger solutions, it becomes necessary, more than ever, to rethink the tools at our disposal. In this challenging context, the rise of emerging technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), data analytics, and artificial intelligence (AI) presents itself as a light at the end of the tunnel. These technologies, initially conceived to simplify everyday tasks and facilitate communication, are potential instruments that enable an effective response to contemporary urban challenges.
Recycled Ceramic Washbasin. Image Courtesy of VitrA
Producing sustainable materials and products demands constant analysis of how we conserve resources and manage waste effectively. This unfolds within a scenario where the environmental impacts of global warming and the climate crisis are becoming increasingly evident. In that context, sustaining the dialogue on waste disposal is fundamental to positively impacting our environment and maximizing circular economy opportunities.
Embracing this perspective and demonstrating a commitment to sustainability through waste reduction and resource conservation, VitrA has created an entire washbasin with 100%* recycled waste materials, including discarded ceramics from its production process. This innovative product has been designed to have a minimal environmental impact and reduce the global warming potential of its production by 30% per product, transforming materials once considered waste into valuable resources.
https://www.archdaily.com/1016103/repurposing-discarded-waste-materials-into-a-100-percent-star-recycled-washbasinEnrique Tovar
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Turning waste into beautiful flooring. Image Courtesy of Bolon
In contemporary architecture, recycling has evolved from a desirable to an unavoidable necessity. This change is mainly due to the growing climate crisis, accentuated by the constant presence of waste (for which no use has been found beyond the initial one).
This approach has stimulated the creation of innovative materials to reuse waste in various contexts. A notable example is the case of woven flooring and rugs, where Bolon took a step forward in 1949 by transforming textile waste into stylish products. Since then, they have continued to innovate in materials, fusing the traditional flooring branch with sustainable creative design.
https://www.archdaily.com/1014951/walk-on-waste-weaving-waste-into-stylish-floorings-and-rugsEnrique Tovar
Environmental issues urgency and increasing temperatures on the planet are nothing new. There are many factors contributing to environmental degradation. However, two can be viewed as representative of critical points in the current world system: plastic and waste disposal, better known as garbage.
The environmental crisis cannot be attributed solely to these two examples. They are used here as examples to mobilize issues involving multiple agents, materials, and diverse methods. These issues lead to devastating consequences, increasingly irreversible.
As populations continue to migrate from rural to urban areas, space is at a premium. Many settlements are becoming ever-more congested – with adequate, affordable housing in short supply and transport systems struggling to serve their respective residents. But as much the conversation about urbanization is about people, it is sometimes also about the animals that come with those people – urban livestock that play a key role at providing sustenance on an individual level, in addition to becoming an avenue for communal trade.
The scene is almost identical, no matter which borough of New York City you’re in. Narrow sidewalks are lined by mountains of trash bags and other large objects, waiting for their turn to be taken away by the fleet of sanitary workers and trucks who will dispose of them. Large rodents seek shelter in their temporary plastic homes, feeding on discarded scraps, becoming a regular sighting for New York City residents. The City That Never Sleeps has a bigger problem than the flashing lights and noisy streets- it’s all of the trash that’s left to sit out on the sidewalks.
Render of affordable homes created out of plastic waste. Image Courtesy of Othalo
A lot of people around the world would agree that we are currently in a climate emergency. The IPCC report, released last year, makes for difficult reading. Practitioners in the built environment have taken to direct climate action, with organizations such as ACAN and Architects Declare fostering carbon literacy and calling for designers to re-evaluate how they practice.
While circular economy is often discussed in relation to the architectural object through the lens of material recycling, design for disassembly, and material passports, the framework is most fully enacted at the neighbourhood and city scale. Whether it is visions of circular communities that hint at some level of self-sufficiency or policies set in motion by cities, urban-scale projects exemplify the guiding principles of the circular economy, providing a glimpse into what a fully-fledged version of it might look like. The following explores the strategies used in circular urban environments, from architecture and construction materials to energy production, waste management and food production, as well as the processes and operations that govern these designs, providing insights into the conditions that inform circularity.
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Courtesy of URBAN POWER for Hvidovre municipality
As the world population grows, designers look to develop the seas. Architecture and planning firm, URBAN POWER strategically designed nine man-made islands off the southern coast of Copenhagen to combat many of the city’s impending challenges. The islets, called Holmene, address demands for tech space, fossil-free energy production, flood barriers, and even public recreation space.
With rising sea levels and incessant consumption of plastic, the state of the earth's oceans is rapidly deteriorating. Instead of discarding or burning this plastic, architects Erik Goksøyr and Emily-Claire Goksøyr questioned whether any architectural potential exists in this neglected material. By conducting an extensive material study, the duo designed three prototypes to postulate this theory.
Though starting out as a humble thesis, this project is being actualized under the organization, Out of Ocean. From the shores of the Koster Islands in Sweden, plastic samples were collected and studied for their various material performance in areas such as color, texture, light, and translucency.
Initially master planned by BIG, the unique design seeks to reclaim a typically unused element of a building for the public through the introduction of the nature-filled program. During summer months, the SLA-designed rooftop activity park will provide visitors with hiking trails, playgrounds, fitness structures, trail running, climbing walls, and of course, incredible views. In the winter, the park will be joined by over 1,640 feet (500 meters) of ski slopes designed by BIG.
With the rise of urban dwellers comes the rise of urban waste. And, although the hidden life of garbage is still ignored by many, there is no way of escaping one of modern societies most pressing issues: unsustainable waste management. Though many plausible and obvious solutions have already been suggested and are ready to be implemented, some experts are proposing radical solutions that may one day be a reality.
Cook County, Illinois, recently brought the elimination of construction waste to a new level by creating the first demolition debris ordinance in the Midwest. This groundbreaking ordinance requires most of the debris created from demolition to be recycled and reused instead of being sent to the landfill. The ordinance helps contribute to Cook County’s zero waste goal, part of the Solid Waste Plan Update.
The new law states that at least 7 percent of suburban construction and demolition debris must be recycled, and an additional 5 percent must be reused on residential properties. This new legislation will have a great impact as it affects about 2.5 million suburban Cook County residents.
A small group of students and architect Tobias Holler of sLAB Costa Rica at the New York Institute of Technology, have teamed up to design and build a communal recycling center for Nosara, Costa Rica – a city that is facing grave problems with sanitation and illegal dumping of garbage on beaches and in wildlife areas. Construction started last summer after a Kickstarter campaign that raised $15,000 helped provide expenses and costs associated with housing the students that assisted with the construction. A relaunch of the Kickstarter campaign will provide the project with additional funds to bring the students back to accelerate the pace of construction. The funds also support the documentary by Ayana de Vos, whose film follows the progress of the project and features waste management and sustainability in Costa Rica.
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The motivation behind building a Communal Recycling Center is based in the severe problems that Nosara specifically, and Costa Rica in general, has in municipal waste management. Without appropriate infrastructure and policies, over 1400 tons of waste is deposited into unregulated dumps daily. A lot of the garbage makes its way into rivers and forests, pollutes ground water, threatens the health of local communities and destroys wildlife.
