The UC Davis Graduate Program of Environmental Policy and Management, or EPM, prepares students through its comprehensive Policy Clinic to help students feel career-ready by gaining practical experience, building a professional network and developing key skills.

Policy Clinic is an important part of the EPM curriculum, providing students with hands-on experience in addressing current environmental policy issues or natural resource management needs. 

“This clinic is here to push them to think creatively about novel solutions to really important issues,” said instructor Abre’ Conner, who is also director of environmental and climate justice with the NAACP.

Student teams work on a project over the winter and spring quarters, delivering reports, policy briefs and recommendations near the end of the academic year. The projects are solicited from a diverse set of environmental policy organizations, who are the clients for the student teams, and they cover a wide range of topics, including water needs, forest management and farmworkers’ healthcare. The experience fosters valuable partnerships between the campus program, state agencies, nonprofits and other groups they support.

“This is one of the last classes the students take before graduation,” Conner said. “This is an opportunity to stand out and show employers ‘we’re ready to dig in right away’ and apply what we’ve learned in a way that will wow them.”

AI and recycling

This year, graduate students have been working on six different projects covering topics like salmon in the San Joaquin River Basin and recommending revisions to state and federal policies regarding green schoolyards. 

A team is also exploring the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in recycling processes and its impact on waste management. That team is composed of four students who are all earning a master’s degree in environmental policy and management: Sophia Collins, May Myo Myint, Morgan Hickey and Tara Khan.

Their client is the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, or CalRecycle, which is working to implement California’s new law, SB 54, which aims to reduce single-use plastics and encourage recycling. AI and robotics can possibly help tackle that issue.

The students’ study explored the landscape of AI within the waste management industry, with a focus on its application at materials recovery facilities, or MRFs, and in the hauling industry. MRFs sort and process materials like paper, plastic, metal and glass, which are then sent to manufacturers for reuse.

The students conducted dozens of interviews with professionals working at MRFs, including those currently using AI technology and those who are not. They also spoke to haulers, trade groups and community members in the greater Bay Area.

“We wanted to discover the motivation behind why AI should be implemented, the challenges to implementation, the barriers, and also the benefits, and if it is actually something that CalRecycle or the Legislature should further promote within these systems,” Collins said.

The team produced qualitative results which are outlined in a final report to CalRecycle. Collins said that one of their findings indicates a positive trend among MRFs: as they transition to robotic sorting, they are avoiding layoffs by retraining manual sorters for other roles.

“It doesn’t have as much of an impact on labor as we first thought,” Collins explained. “These systems are relatively new, and they’re not developed to their full capabilities yet. As of right now we’re not seeing any layoffs.”

The researchers also found that while AI sorting is effective at identifying materials, physically sorting some types, such as plastic film, wet materials and dark plastics, remains very challenging. According to those they interviewed, a robotic arm's lack of human-like dexterity also led to sorting errors where materials are incorrectly classified.

“Waste material is very different,” Myint explained. “Most of the time the materials are damaged, dirty, wet. So that’s the problem with AI sorting. The material is so unpredictable.”

The team also developed policy recommendations, which include increased funding for infrastructure and technology, enhanced public education and support for further research to fully realize AI's potential in waste management beyond the region they studied.

“I think it’s a good jumping off place for further research on this topic and maybe an opportunity to expand it to for the whole state of California,” Hickey said. “There’s nothing like this so far; it’s a new thing that we created that people can use to move forward in the future. We’re all really excited about that.”

Teaming up with the pros

The team delivered their final presentation at a campus symposium last week. They also presented their findings to CalRecycle leadership and staff at the Sacramento headquarters. Emily Zakowski, an environmental scientist at CalRecycle and a UC Davis graduate who previously participated in the Policy Clinic as a student, highlighted the value of the team's work.

“The students worked hard to produce quality deliverables that will help inform California’s transition to a circular economy,” Zakowski said. “The results from their literature review, surveys and interviews provide useful insight into how artificial intelligence is currently utilized in waste management and how it can play a role as we plan for a circular, zero-waste future.”

Zakowski knows firsthand how the valuable skills students gain, including problem solving, communication and project management, can help them become effective professionals capable of navigating and addressing challenges in the field of environmental policy and management. That opportunity is vital as they approach graduation and apply for jobs.

“It helped me build relationships with real clients and I have working experience that I can put on my resume,” Myint said.

For Conner, watching her students develop their skills, gain confidence and become leaders brings her hope for the future.

“I feel this is the pipeline of how we’re going to fix environmental and climate issues not only across the states, but across the world,” Conner said.