Not Yet Waste is a design intervention that creates a pause before an object becomes waste.

The project is situated in Binckhorst, The Hague, a former industrial district now transforming into a residential area. Through this transition, many systems that support the city, such as repair, logistics, waste, and maintenance, are becoming less visible. I began to understand this condition as an urban filter, where the clean image of the city is separated from the work that allows it to function.

Rather than addressing waste only as an infrastructural issue, Not Yet Waste focuses on a smaller everyday moment. It looks at the act of letting go of an object.

Around the time of moving into a new home, residents often reconsider what they own. Objects are sorted, kept, stored, replaced, or discarded. Many of them are not broken, but no longer clearly belong.

The project proposes a manual, a set of object tags, and a modified waste bin placed at the entrance of new residential buildings. The tags give residents a simple language to describe the status of their belongings, including in use, occasionally used, duplicate, hesitating, or ready to move on. Objects that are ready to leave one home can be placed in the Not Yet Waste bin before entering the waste system.

By working with the existing rhythm of bin collection, the project creates a temporary moment of exchange and attention in the neighborhood. It does not try to solve waste completely. Instead, it opens a small pause inside the waste routine, allowing objects to be seen, reconsidered, and possibly passed on before they disappear into the waste system.