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Public Access Design
Greenpoint students investigate trash infrastructure
Since the Fresh Kills landfill closed on Staten Island over 15 years ago, NYC has exported all of its trash to other places to be buried or burned. Everyone from government officials to local residents has debated this complicated process, but one thing all folks agree on is that this current system is too costly and difficult to maintain. So where does our trash go and who makes these decisions? What’s the dirt on NYC’s mounting trash problem?
In Fall 2015, CUP and Teaching Artist Dillon de Give partnered with students at Frances Perkins Academy in Brooklyn’s Greenpoint neighborhood to dig deeper into the complicated world of garbage infrastructure. To find out more, students visited important places like a local waste transfer station and a recycling facility. They interviewed key decision makers including a private waste carrier, an environmental activist, a Department of Sanitation staff member, and the chair of the City Council’s Sanitation Committee.
In February the students presented some of their initial findings to their peers and community members in a special presentation that explored emerging themes in their investigation, using original artwork and design. Over the next several months, the students will collaborate with the Teaching Artist to edit and refine their findings into a documentary style video that explains who decides where our trash goes, how else the system could work, and how the community can have a say in that decision.
Stay tuned for more trash talk!
This project is a new and expanded Urban Investigations. To learn more about our Urban Investigations program, click here.
This Digital Investigation is a part of Curb Your Litter: Greenpoint, a project of the Greenpoint Chamber of Commerce.
