Every day, 24,000 tons of waste leaves New York City. A third of it is traditional recycling material—metal, plastic, glass, cardboard and paper—roughly half of which gets recycled. Another third is organic waste, but only about 1% gets separated; the bulk of it is transported to landfills an average of 300 miles away.

It is a huge missed opportunity, and one we cannot afford in an era of global warming. At landfills, the organic waste decomposes anaerobically, generating methane—a greenhouse gas 30 times more potent than carbon dioxide.

Much of this waste could instead be a resource to create compost, energy, and recycled materials—but only if we can easily separate and manage our waste. That's where the real estate industry comes in.

Most buildings are set up so it is much easier to dispose of waste than recycle or compost it. If residents can drop a bag of trash down a chute, but need to walk down to the basement to empty an organics caddy and drop off a greasy pizza box, they are not always going to make the extra effort. If building staff have no space to store recycling until it is collected once a week, and if they need to carry heavy organic bins up cellar stairs, they may not prioritize recycling and organic waste separation.

Two years ago, after panelists at a presentation on the city’s plans to collect organic waste struggled to explain how to set up a building to separate organics, a group of architects and waste experts got together to seek solutions. The effort snowballed, with the group visiting buildings and convening workshops with stakeholders. It led to case studies and best practice strategies to design for better waste management in buildings and public space. These Zero Waste Design Guidelines are being launched today through the Center for Architecture.

The guidelines include an interactive online calculator so designers can know how much waste will need to be managed in a building, as well as how better separation and compaction equipment can reduce storage requirements. Many of the strategies can be applied to existing buildings; some don’t even require renovation.

Making disposal of recycling and organic waste just as convenient as trash is important. It means getting rid of bins by every desk in offices so staff go to a central, well-designed waste station. Planning a route for waste through a building, with consistent signage and clear procedures, helps building staff keep waste separated. To accommodate existing residential buildings with little space, the guidelines suggest strategies from Europe such as shared waste disposal on a sidewalk or parking lane. Case studies show how well designed these can be.

Design is a powerful tool to change behavior. The transformation of NYC streets—with bike lanes, public plazas and safer pedestrian crossings—is helping move the city towards its Vision Zero goal for fatalities. We need to apply design to reach Zero Waste too.

Clare Miflin is an architect with Kiss + Cathcart Architects and the principal author of the Zero Waste Design Guidelines.