New York City produces a lot of trash: over 14,000,000 tons a year, most of which is bussed and shipped out of the city at an annual cost of $300 million and an even higher environmental toll. The folks over at PRESENT Architecture have begun thinking about a way to reduce waste-related traffic, noise pollution, and greenhouse gas emissions. What they've come up with is the Green Loop, a waterfront hub that has a street-level composting facility with an elevated park on top. The ten proposed hubs stationed along the city's waterways will be "large enough to accommodate anything from educational facilities and neighborhood gardens to cross-country skiing in the winter." The waterfront hubs take advantage of existing transportation infrastructure, as trucks deliver waste a short distance to a borough composting hub, with barges and rail picking up the sorted matter for transport to the Green Loops. If each borough hosts its own transfer station—as PRESENT is proposing—it begins to address the stinky issue of "borough equity", or each borough taking responsibility for its own waste. PRESENT also sees the Green Loops as an extension of the city's developing shorelines (think Brooklyn Bridge Park). The loops will add 125 acres of public park land to the city, and create a new market for nutrient-rich compost.

Green Loop compost matter could be used to grow local produce.

The waterfront hubs take advantage of pre-existing transportation infrastructure like the West Side Highway and the footpaths running through Hudson River Park.

PRESENT has started thinking about the important task of tackling the compostable matter that makes up 30 percent of the city's residential waste stream.

> via ny.curbed.com