Solving Grand Challenges
Katherine Shayne
Georgia’s “Green Girl” is making recycling more accessible.
Solving Grand Challenges
Katherine Shayne
Georgia’s “Green Girl” is making recycling more accessible.
At a glance
Katherine and her UGA research team created a virtual platform that helps consumers navigate the confusing world of recycling.
The team is developing this technology into an app that can answer every day recycling questions and working to partner with an e-commerce giant to integrate into packaging systems.
You can help support projects like this by giving to the New Materials Institute Fund.
“I’ve had a lot of opportunities here and every single one of them has been an outpouring of support… I think that’s what is extremely unique to me about the University of Georgia.”
Katherine Shayne
Thanks to Katherine Shayne (BSENVE ’16, MS ’18) and her all-female research team at the University of Georgia, recycling really is as easy as asking your Amazon Alexa.
One of the youngest honorees named to the UGA Alumni Association’s 2019 40 Under 40, Katherine is the co-founder of Can I Recycle This (CIRT), an organization working to clean up recycling by providing localized answers to specific recycling questions.
Katherine concentrated her undergraduate research and her graduate thesis on the end of life for materials, particularly ocean-bound plastics, working and learning under the expertise of Jenna Jambeck, an associate professor in UGA’s College of Engineering. Jenna is internationally recognized for her research on plastic waste in the ocean and is the other co-founder of CIRT.
This all-female research team is powered by the New Materials Institute, committed to creating safer, environmentally-healthy products, as well as systems that generate less waste. The goal of the institute is to encourage more sustainable product design and waste management practices.
It’s simple:
- Add @CanIRecycleThis on Snapchat, Facebook or Twitter
- Send a photo directly to CIRT
- Voila—you will instantly receive an answer based on your location
- Or, simply ask your Amazon Alexa
“You shouldn’t have to memorize recyclables on a day-to-day basis. We wanted to make it easy and accessible for consumers to utilize,” Katherine says. “Consumers interact with AI where they can ask and get a real-time response.”
When using CIRT, you’ll interact with “GG.” The significance of “GG” is two-fold: it’s Katherine’s sister’s nickname and also short for “Green Girl.”
Watch the CIRT Platform in action
So, what’s next for CIRT? The team is working to develop this technology into a self-contained app that can answer everyday recycling questions without the use of social media. They are also developing a partnership with an e-commerce giant in order to integrate CIRT into packaging systems.
“Say you get a package from a big e-commerce giant and in that box or shipping confirmation email, it tells you everything in the packaging that’s recyclable and also everything that’s not. That information is based on location because what matters is where it was shipped. So, it just accesses our database and provides consumers with answers.”
As for Katherine, she’s continuing her research on plastic pollution as a researcher at the University of Georgia and is involved with a youth leadership group through the Sustainable Ocean Alliance. The group is drafting a white paper on the dangers of plastic pollution that will be presented to 20 governments around the world.
“Even though we might only make up 25% of the population, we’re definitely 100% of what’s going to be the future,” Katherine notes about the role youth can play in solving the grand challenges of our time.
