A Future Without Garbage: Center for Zero Waste Design and ThinkWoven's Clare Miflin on Resilience, Persistence, and Reuse

By Julia Gamolina

Clare Miflin is a circular-systems thinker with over twenty years of experience as an architect. In 2017, she led the development of the Zero Waste Design Guidelines. Positing waste as a design flaw, Clare envisions a future without garbage, where urban systems are woven into ecosystems. She leads both the Center for Zero Waste Design, a nonprofit that develops research, advocacy campaigns and policy tools, and ThinkWoven, a consultancy that applies zero waste design strategies to buildings, neighborhoods and cities. In her interview with Julia Gamolina, Clare talks about coming to biomimicry, the circular economy, and the great turning point for humanity now, advising those just starting their careers to find where their greatest joy meets the world’s greatest needs.

JG: I admire what you're doing with the Center for Zero Waste Design so much. Could you tell our readers a little bit about the catalyst that led you to start this, and what you're planning for the rest of 2024?

CM: Thank you! The Center for Zero Waste Design emerged from the Zero Waste Design Guidelines, which I developed with a Rockefeller Foundation grant, in partnership with the Center for Architecture. For this year-long initiative, I organized a series of workshops and panels, including one on NYC’s new curbside organic waste collection. I had just worked on a residential building with three chutes for trash and the two types of recycling, and I asked, “How could NYC’s small organics bin fit in the building?” There were no good answers from the panelists—you can’t put a small bin at the bottom of a chute, and it’s a lot of labor to service them on every floor, especially when the whole point of the three chutes was so that building staff didn’t need to service the rooms — this catalyzed the idea for the design guidelines. I went back and visited the building I had designed and found that it was worse than I thought — the porter had to deal with glass possibly smashing on the floor when he swapped out the bin at the bottom of the chute, a waste staging room that was far too small, no space for large cardboard, etc.

As I dug into the issues more, I realized that this was very common; the people that dealt with waste in buildings had to deal with such badly designed systems, and architects didn’t even realize they were designing daily nightmares for these staff. The whole process of developing the Guidelines was such an inspiring process — it brought together passionate waste advocates from different fields, and we came up with so many ways that buildings and urban spaces could be designed to reduce waste, improve labor and improve public spaces.

Afterwards I was passionate about taking the Guidelines further and helping to implement them. So I formed two entities: a nonprofit Center for Zero Waste Design that develops design strategies, advocacy campaigns, and policy tools; and a consultancy, ThinkWoven, that applies the design strategies to buildings, neighborhoods and cities.

"Designing Waste: Strategies for a Zero Waste City" Exhibition at the Center for Architecture, 2018. Photo Erik Bardin.

Big Reuse Rally, Queensbridge Composting Site, April 2024. Photography by Meghan Marin.

What's the most important thing for all of us to know and focus on regarding zero waste?

Zero waste is so much more than just recycling and composting everything, it is a fundamental change from the current dominant linear “take-make-waste” economy to a circular economy, one that is rooted in local communities. It has great potential to improve cities too, since, especially in the US, the urban realm has been designed for the linear economy — for trucks to bring goods in, and for waste to be taken out, with big warehouses and transfer stations. With a circular economy there is much less movement of goods, and the loops are much smaller, so you can use bikes and small electric vehicles. This gives so much freedom to transform the public realm.

What have you focused on specifically this year?

In 2024, we are moving forward on all three strategies in the vision plan we did with WXY: Put Waste to Work: for Vibrant Streetscapes, Green Jobs, and Healthy Neighborhoods. The campaign called on the incoming Adams administration to create a better plan for waste: to circulate materials, so that reuse comes before disposal; to compact and contain wasted materials so they take up less public space, require fewer trucks, and attract fewer pests; and to compost organic materials to regenerate soils and bring health to our urban ecosystems.

For “circulate” we are working with Reloop, a nonprofit that works to accelerate the global transition to a circular economy, to develop a vision and supporting legislation for supporting circular beverage container recycling and reuse systems within NYC’s urban fabric. For “contain” we are working on a waste containerization report and will have a panel discussion at Center for Architecture in October, and we are working with the City of Hoboken on a municipal waste containerization pilot. Finally, for “compost” we are developing a vision to ramp up community composting over the next decade, to ensure continued City Council funding that was achieved through the Save our Compost coalition. ThinkWoven is also consulting on many new and existing projects including the NY Climate Exchange on Governors Island which will be certified TRUE zero waste.

“Throwing things away doesn’t feel good, but composting, regenerating soils, sharing, repair, is so inspiring.”

— Clare Miflin

Now let's go back a little bit — you first studied architecture. How did you choose where you went to study?

As a kid I loved Heath Robinson cartoons, and wanted to design contraptions which solved problems. I was accepted to Cambridge University to study engineering, but touring around didn’t see many signs of creativity so I decided at the last minute to do architecture instead. I went to Edinburgh University because I wanted to be far from the South East where I had grown up, I wanted to be in a city, not on a campus, and it offered gliding — I really wanted to hang glide at that age, and this was the closest I could find!

In the UK an architecture degree is in two parts with a year out working in the middle. I took two years out, in Jamaica and Berlin. The Berlin Wall had just come down and it was one of the few places globally in 1991 with much work for young architects or students. I met my husband there, he had just graduated from the Cooper Union. I went to The Bartlett in London for the second part of my architecture degree, and then moved to NYC to be with him.

You eventually also studied biomimicry. Tell me how this came about.

I worked as an architect for twenty years before I began to wonder if designing buildings was what I wanted to do for the rest of my career. I started volunteering with Urban Green’s monthly programs committee, became Passive House certified, joined the Living Building Challenge Collaborative, read about biophilia and was looking at how I could have more impact and what inspired me. I loved the idea of biomimicry but wasn’t sure if it was rigorous or effective enough.

I eventually decided to do a one week workshop, which was in remote Montana. That hooked me, and soon I signed up for the master's degree, online through ASU, and the professional certification program — six one-week sessions in different biomes, over two years, with a cohort of eighteen students of different ages, disciplines and backgrounds from all over the world. It was an amazing experience and coincided with the development of the Zero Waste Design Guidelines. I guess you could say studying biomimicry was kind of a midlife crisis thing — and it really did pivot my career and life to what it is now. It connected me to people coming at the same issue from many different viewpoints, it reconnected me to nature in a soul-filled way, it encouraged me to grow into leadership, it brought me hope and conviction, and started me on a transformative journey which is still ongoing.

Biomimicry Professional trip to the temperate coniferous forest, Canadian Rockies, July 2017 Photography by Seth GaleWyrick.

Biomimicry Professional trip to the tropical rainforest, Costa Rica, December 2017 Photography by Seth GaleWyrick.

Biomimicry Professional pre-trip to Glacier National Park, July 2017. Photography by Seth GaleWyrick.

What did you learn from your time working in professional architectural practice that you still apply today?

At the beginning of my career I worked at a couple of small NYC boutique offices and was becoming increasingly disillusioned — one of the last jobs I did was a family house in Connecticut. The client told me it was just like an “English cottage”. I exclaimed “English cottages do not have seven bathrooms!” To which she responded “I have seven bathrooms?!” Luckily I then found a job with Kiss + Cathcart, Architects, who back in 2000 were way ahead of any other NYC firm in designing sustainable projects, and worked mostly on public projects.

I worked there for eighteen years, and learned so much. They started every project with an in-office charrette, looking at how they could reap the most benefits from the site — energy from the sun, water from rainfall — and how they could integrate solar panels and vegetation into the design of the building. They always looked at the ideal solution, and then tried to figure out how to achieve it, and convince the client. They’d put in extra time to increase the performance of the project even if they weren’t paid for that work. We are similarly mission driven.

Looking back at it all, what have been the biggest challenges? How did you both manage through perceived disappointments or setbacks?

The biggest challenges have always been about convincing others of what I believe in. At K+C we were trying to convince a developer to build what would have been the first affordable housing multifamily passive house in NYC. They almost went along with it, but then decided they couldn’t quite afford or risk it. I remember bumping into the developer as I was putting my farmers market produce on my bike — he said, “Wow, you really are so green,” to which I wished I had replied that I could bike and eat local food for the rest of my life, but it wouldn’t pay back the decision he had just made. I was so disappointed at the time, but afterwards the developer did go on to do many passive house affordable housing projects.

It’s been the same with the Center — trying to convince the city to do waste containerization in a way that helps get to zero waste and improves streetscapes and labor, or to convince them of the value of community composting, has been so tough. The recent decision of NYC Parks not to let Big Reuse continue to operate their community compost site under the Queensborough Bridge hit hard, because it made no sense. Being part of the Save our Compost coalition has helped put things in perspective for me. Community composters have spent decades proving the value of their work and still have to fight for funding almost every budget cycle. It is disheartening, but does inspire me to be more resilient and persistent, and being part of a community of advocates really helps to weather disappointments and setbacks.

“I believe the future of architecture should not be about designing new buildings, but about design as a way to add value to the built environment.”

— Clare Miflin

What have you also learned in the last six months?

I’m learning a lot about the power of coalitions to get things done in the city — I am part of the Save our Compost coalition which got their funding restored through city council, and also of the Alliance for Public Space Leadership which is working to improve streetscapes, and support open streets community events.

I’ve also learned a lot about myself! I am doing jungian dream analysis and the stories my subconscious tells me are so creative and impactful. They’ve led me to start learning to sing, after a lifetime of not singing, as I was told as a child that I couldn’t. It has been a vulnerable and rewarding journey, through awesome workshops with Inside Voice. I hope that finding my voice will help me convince others that a trash-free future is a beautiful and ultimately attainable possibility.

Who are you admiring now and why?

Robin Wall Kimmerer, for her book Braiding Sweetgrass which weaves together western and indigenous thinking, where humans have a positive role to play within natural systems. I saw her speak and she answered my question about what gave her hope, with “make good soil”. That resonated so strongly and I understood it both literally through the work of composting and regeneration, and metaphorically as strengthening communities and myself. I loved adrienne maree brown’s book Emergent Strategies and have just started Pleasure Activism - because the work towards a better future should be created with pleasure, no? And humor is also needed, as Thimali Kodikara showed through the Mothers of Invention podcast, interviewing inspiring women who are making a difference in climate justice all over the world.

In the architecture field I admire Lacaton and Vassal for deciding to never demolish and work with existing buildings only. Also Claire Weisz and WXY for using design so broadly — whether diversifying public schools, improving public space or reconsidering urban systems. And MASS Design, how they consider the influence a building can have on a larger system — helping collectively heal and project new possibilities for the future.

Bushwick Inlet Park by Kiss + Cathcart Architects, Photography by Paul Warchol.

What is the impact you’d like to have on the world? What is your core mission? And, what does success in that look like to you?

My core mission is to help design a future without garbage, where urban systems are woven into ecosystems. In this vibrant future, people collaborate to create systems where products and materials are reused and recycled in circular processes, regenerating both communities and nature. Success would be NYC reaching its zero waste goals — 90% reduction in waste going to landfill or incineration — by applying some of the strategies from Put Waste to Work: citywide reusable container programs; libraries for so much more than books; communities working together to compost and make healthy soils and take care of trees, parks and public spaces; sidewalks free from trash bags and bins and litter.

I’d love my impact to include helping articulate the vision of how human systems can benefit natural systems, and the need to involve everyone's creativity in transforming systems. Humanity is at a transition point and I hope to play a role in developing a collective vision of what the future could be like. On a tangible note, I helped a filmmaker from University of Buffalo on a teaser for a documentary about what a waste-free future NYC could be like — helping him set up shoots with community composters, dishwashing facilities, zero waste restaurants and offices. He just got funded through a National Endowment for the Humanities grant so I’m super excited to continue working with him on a short and full length documentary.

Finally, what advice do you have for those starting their career? Would your advice be any different for women?

I love the quote that “your vocation in life is where your greatest joy meets the world’s greatest need”. In my biomimicry graduation, I surprised myself by saying that I had never realized solving NYC’s garbage problem is what would bring me joy, but it does. Throwing things away doesn’t feel good, but composting, regenerating soils, sharing, repair, is so inspiring. And it isn’t just the things — it's the people that get treated like trash too. Labor in our linear economy includes so many awful soulless jobs, working in stewardship and repair is just so much more creative and rewarding.

Volunteer opportunities can help you find that joy and develop your vocation, until you can weave it into your career. Volunteering with Urban Green and AIA New York Committee on the Environment helped me transfer from designing buildings to zero waste design.

I’d also say to remember that architectural training is applicable to much more than designing buildings — it is about designing to improve systems, and to solve multiple problems. Architects are generalists and have to weigh up competing priorities and solve multiple needs in elegant ways that are so more than the sum of the parts. I believe the future of architecture should not be about designing new buildings, but about design as a way to add value to the built environment.