Researchers at the Center for Urban Science and Progress are collaborating with the New York City Department of Sanitation to better understand waste in the city and ultimately develop a predictive model which will help DSNY to better allocate resources. This research is currently in its initial stages.

One of the challenges this research presents is the necessity to visualize and parse this information. Currently, researchers are developing a map visualization in order to allow this big data to be better understood and ultimately acted upon.