Skip to main content Skip to secondary navigation
Main content start

We are a group of Stanford students, researchers, faculty, and alumni passionate about the broader topics of waste management across industries, sectors, functions and geographies.

Our community offers an open platform for Stanford students and researchers to share projects and connect with like-minded waste experts in the field.

Our AANW Knowledge Hub collects all the latest projects, job/internship postings and events in the waste space. Please feel free to add to the database if you are working on any waste related project / looking to hire for your team / distributing event information. Happy collaborating!

Event Series

Plants in jars
Event

Trash Talk

Series of lunch seminars featuring innovators, investors, industry experts and regulators in the waste economy. Speakers will be announced as soon as they are confirmed. 

Events

Innovation Expo

Series of events spotlighting Stanford ventures, research projects, student groups working on waste innovations to promote collaboration and mentorship.

Meet our team

Mariana Heredia (Co-President)
Stanford, CA

Mariana is an Engineer and currently a Master student at Stanford Graduate School of Business. She has worked for Greenpeace in France and is passionate about solving challenges that can mitigate climate change. Mariana current goal is to find smart solutions to reduce waste for a world population that grows and consumes in a linear fashion. 

Hannah Yuh Watkins (Co-President)
Stanford, CA

 

Hannah Watkins is a sophomore studying Mechanical Engineering at Stanford. She grew up in Abu Dhabi, where the worsening desert heat spurred her to act against climate change. She has been involved with zero waste through leadership at Students for a Sustainable Stanford, and in the future, she hopes to apply a technical background to environmental challenges. 

Sam Bunke

Sam Bunke (Engineering School Ambassador)
Stanford, CA

 

Sam Bunke is a Chemical Engineering PhD candidate at Stanford working in the Tarpeh Lab. Her research focuses on resource recovery from waste streams, such as recovering lithium from battery waste and recycling plastic waste back to their monomer states. After graduate school, Sam hopes to apply her technical background to policy development and implementation in the waste management field.

Hannah McGoran

Hannah McGoran (Undergraduate Ambassador)
Stanford, CA

 

Hannah McGoran is an undergrad at Stanford University pursuing a major in Environmental Systems Engineering in the Coastal Processes Track. She is passionate about the reduction of resource consumption and waste, and the ways in which these efforts can alleviate climate change and ocean pollution. She has been involved with Emergent Waste Solutions, several cleanup coalitions, and other waste-reduction projects.

Caroline Ling

Caroline Ling (Founder)
Stanford, CA

 

Caroline Ling is a Stanford Graduate School of Business MBA pursuing a joint MS Degree in Environment & Resources. With a previous background in human-centered design and digital innovation, she is passionate about leveraging behavioral design and technologies to achieve circular economy at scale.

Julie Muir

Julie Muir (Advisor)
Stanford, CA

 

Julie has over 25 years of experience in the waste reduction, reuse, recycling, composting and solid waste industry. Currently, she is leading the implementation of the zero waste plan at Stanford University. Previously, Julie had been the Community Relations and Zero Waste Manager at Peninsula Sanitary Service, Inc., a local, family owned recycling and solid waste company that collects, processes and hauls recyclables, compostables and solid waste.