In the simplest scenario, residents bring waste to a central waste area. The area may be interior (at grade level or in the cellar) or exterior (in front of the building within the property line, on the sidewalk or in a side yard).

Moving bins to the exterior can remove odors and pests from the interior but be detrimental to the quality of the sidewalk experience.

Typically used with wheeled bins and no compaction and Central storage in cellar and on street.

Limited room for interior and exterior storage in Chinatown tenement
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These are large apartment buildings, often cooperatives, with doormen and staff who service the building through its separate service circulation. Residents generally place their waste in bins or bags, as well as bundled cardboard, directly outside the service door to their apartment.

Typically found in larger apartment complexes, this system often consists of a narrow chute that previously emptied into an incinerator. The chute door is in the egress corridor, or alongside the elevator.

Chute door in residential corridors and central recycling station

Recycling is located in a central area.

Trash goes down the chute to a compactor. The trash room is often small and unventilated with just enough space for small recycling bins. There are multiple chute options: just trash chute, single chute with sorter, or multiple chutes.

Waste rooms are typically small and unventilated, with chute access and recycling bins.

Trash chute connected to compactors with “sausage” bags.

Recycling is located in a central area.

Sorter systems allow use of a single chute for multiple waste streams. Before opening the chute door, residents press a button to choose the waste stream. The sorting equipment directs the trash into a compactor and the recycling streams into containers.

Simple 3 button control panel for trisorter; Chute to tri-sorter

Control panel for residents to select waste streams for bisorter and turntable.

Chute to bi-sorter with compactor and turntable

Multiple chutes allow for co-located disposal of multiple waste streams without mechanized sorting systems. Typically residents enter a trash room with three chutes: one leading to a compactor, one for MGP and another for paper. Cardboard must be left in the trash room or taken to a central location.

Three separate chute doors for trash, MGP and paper; Trash chute empties into a compactor; MGP and paper chutes empty into tilt trucks

Two chute doors for trash and single stream recycling (private hauler collection); Trash and recycling empty into compactors and 2 cu yd containers