Charles was educated at Chaminade High School, St. John’s University and Boston College Law School.
Named one of the 50 most influential Long Islanders five years in a row by the Long Island Press, Charles is a dedicated environmental advocate, committed to developing innovative, earth-friendly solutions to some of the region’s most daunting challenges.
His company plays a critical role in Long Island’s solid waste management plan, and his products are used in the most high profile, public and private projects, including the World Trade Center Memorial Garden.
The recipient of numerous awards for his environmental work, Charles continues to expand Long Island Compost’s creative re-use of valuable resources, now quietly focusing on clean, renewable energy.
In June 2013, Long Island Compost announced its plan to build the first anaerobic digester in the New York metropolitan region. We will accept 120,000 tons per year of food waste instead of sending it to a landfill, and convert it to high end compost and clean renewable energy. This is an historic agreement with the New York State DEC and the Town of Brookhaven. Once constructed, the facility will greatly improve air quality in the area, reduce carbon footprint, and improve ground water, while dramatically reducing impacts to the community. This will be done by employing what Charles calls “The gold standard in how the developed world recycles food waste”.
The 50 million dollar project is expected to take one year to construct, but when operational, will produce both electricity and compressed natural gas. It is estimated that there will be a greenhouse gas reduction of over 500,000 tons per year, or the equivalent of removing over 80,000 cars off the road. This is in addition to saving 6,000 interstate tractor trailer trips per year. Charles projects that this will be done at a price below current costs of exporting trash to distant landfills.
As Charles says, “it’s good for the environment, it’s good for the community, it’s good for the economy. Everybody wins!”
As the Long Island Press said, “Vigliotti has Gordon Gekko good looks, and a DeNiro like swagger which has served him well as he built his company into a formidable environmental organization.”
Long Island Compost is Long Island’s leading provider of organic materials, services and products.
Each year, Long Island Compost recycles hundreds of thousands of tons of leaves, grass clippings and other landscape-related materials generated by Long Islanders. The company also plays a critical role in developing organic, earth-friendly solutions to the region’s most daunting environmental challenges – including the remediation of the Peconic Bay and vital South Shore waterways.
Over 30 years ago, the company was founded by Charles, Dominic and Arnold Vigliotti. Today, they employ more than 150 men and women and operate the nation’s largest yard-waste transfer station in Westbury, New York, and a 62-acre facility in Yaphank, New York. It is at these transfer stations that more than 2,000 landscaping companies come to drop off organic materials, which the company later harvests into compost. These transfer stations represent an environmentally sound answer to the region’s organic waste problems.
In addition to providing the public with a wide range of organic lawn-care products sold at garden centers and national retailers, including Home Depot, Long Island Compost maintains a substantial Municipal/Professional/Bulk division. Through this division, the company creates custom soil mixes for large urban planting projects that call for strict quality control specifications. These range from governmental agencies and charitable institutions to botanic gardens and golf courses. Recent projects that have made use of Long Island Compost products and expertise include:
- New York City Department of Design and Construction’s “Columbus Circle Reconstruction.”
- Museum of Modern Art’s “Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Sculpture Garden.”
- The Battery Conservancy’s “Battery Bosque Garden.”
- New York City Department of Parks and Recreation’s “Robinson/Reese Monument.”
- Office of the Mayor of the City of New York’s “Flight 587 Memorial.”
- United Nations’ “Plaza Landscape Maintenance.”
- Various projects for the Central Park Conservancy, plus use for maintenance by park staff.
- Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s “Cherry Esplanade Restoration and Eastern Parkway Entrance Reconstruction.”
- New York Botanical Garden.
- The Bronx Zoo’s Astor Court.
- Battery Park City Parks Conservancy.
- New York State Department of Transportation’s “Long Island Expressway/ Cross Island Parkway Interchange Reconstruction.”
- Port Authority of New York and New Jersey’s “JFK International Airport’s Beautification Program for AirTran stations at Jamaica and Howard Beach, Queens.”
10 Ways We Make A Difference
Long Island Compost…
1) Takes local organic waste material, transforms it into nutrient-rich compost, and puts it back into the region’s gardens and yards.
2) Ensures that the burden of hauling and processing organic waste no longer falls to towns and their taxpayers.
3) Keeps waste material out of Long Island incinerators and out-of-state landfills.
4) Helps protect Long Island’s air quality by eliminating the need for interstate trucks carrying waste off Long Island and through New York City.
5) Provides landscapers with a convenient – and legal – place to dispose of the waste from people’s yards.
6) Contributes to the protection of the Peconic Bay and South Shore estuary, making sure that these waterways do not revert back to their “pre-composting” polluted states.
7) Enables East End farmers to enjoy a steady income stream through “on farm” composting.
8) Employs more than 150 men and women throughout Nassau and Suffolk Counties.
9) Helps keep the local duck industry right here on Long Island, thanks to remediation of duck waste through composting.
10) Keeps costs down for Long Islanders by supplying a superior compost product that is more competitively priced than the national brands.
