21. Charles Vigliotti

Charles Vigliotti is poised to change the world. By introducing Long Island to the first anaerobic digester in the region—a project due to be completed in 2016—Vigliotti’s company American Organic Energy will revamp the way organic refuse is disposed of, both locally and internationally. As the president and chief executive of Long Island Compost, Vigliotti is familiar with the way waste is handled on Long Island. By collecting landscaping waste and transforming it into compost, he’s had his foot in the door of the waste industry, leading the way in which sustainable solutions are put into practical use. American Organic Energy’s planned anaerobic digester aims to be nothing less than the most sophisticated food waste processing plant in the world. It will be a significant step toward rectifying Long Island’s inexcusably sluggish environmental and ecological progress, converting 180,000 tons of food waste into usable material: vehicle fuel, electricity, compost, and fertilizer, and reducing 40,000 tons of greenhouse gases. The facility will not only take many tractor-trailers off of the Long Island Expressway en route to landfills off-Island, but replace them with his own fleet of vehicles fueled with the recycled bio-gas collected from the recycled waste. It’s a 100-percent sustainable model. It’s a new vision for the world. And it starts right here, on Long Island.