EREF FELLOW SPONSORED BY THE ANTONACCI FOUNDATION
February 28, 2019
Komal Charania joined EREF in March 2017. She graduated with honors in May 2018 with a degree from North Carolina State University in Environmental Engineering. At EREF, she worked on the State of Practice of Landfill Leachate Management and Treatment in the U.S. project (see description below) within the Data and Policy program. This involved gathering available leachate quality and quantity data in order to get a better understanding of the state of leachate generation, treatment, and management in the United States. In February 2018, she attended GWMS with EREF and presented a poster on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in landfills.
Murphy Road Recycling connected with Greyparrot , whose AI-powered material analyzers are installed in the All American MRF to do a feature for CBS News. Ambarish Mitra, the founder of Greyparrot, flew to Connecticut from the UK to visit our facility and spend some time with the crew who installed and maintain the analyzers. These analyzers use AI to identify materials going through the MRF, giving real time insight into the material stream. This data is used to provide quality control information, which is then used to adjust the system to improve efficiency and effectiveness. The CBS crew interviewed both Ambarish and our Director of Operations Jonathan Murray to discuss the relationship between advanced technology and the recycling industry. The CBS News feature aired in November and gained over 40 million nationwide impressions. We are incredibly proud of the hard work put in by our All American MRF crew to ensure the facility is constantly achieving excellence, and putting our region in national focus for recycling innovation.
On September 27, a team of 10 dedicated volunteers from USA Waste & Recycling and All American Waste rolled up their sleeves and made a real difference along the Connecticut River. As part of the annual Source to Sea Cleanup, we joined forces with hundreds of others across the region, contributing our efforts at the Donald W. Barnes Boat Launch and the surrounding watershed area in Enfield, CT.
