32. Charles Vigliotti

When the planners for the National World Trade Center Memorial proposed planting 400 Swamp White Oak trees at Ground Zero in the middle of the concrete jungle, they looked east for the solution. Long Island Compost president Charles Vigliotti, along with his two brothers, Arnold and Dominic, were charged with organically engineering soil that would nourish and encourage these trees to grow in the most hallowed ground in the United States. High-profile projects such as the 9/11 Memorial have become fairly routine to Long Island Compost, operator of the nation’s largest yard-waste transfer station. The temptation is to brush Vigliotti’s enterprise off as a regular waste or refuse company; it’s anything but. Beyond saving LI taxpayers money by reducing organic waste in municipal facilities, on-farm composting, greater access to local organic gardening material, less landfill and incinerator waste and fewer trucks hauling materials are just a few of the factors that make Long Island Compost perhaps the most environmentally beneficial company on Long Island.