Cleaning America’s 500,000 Toxic Land Sites: The PFAS Breakthrough

Hardware to Save a Planet

What if highly contaminated land could be safely and efficiently restored for productive use?

In this episode of Hardware to Save a Planet, host Dylan Garrett talks with Randol Aikin, founder of Remedy Scientific, about revolutionizing land remediation. With over 500,000 contaminated sites across the U.S., Aikin explains how robotics, AI, and containerized systems are accelerating the cleanup of toxic “forever chemicals.” This innovative approach not only enables faster, localized treatment but also unlocks critical land for housing and infrastructure, proving that development and environmental protection can go hand in hand.

What you will learn:

• Why contaminated land is a critical bottleneck for housing and infrastructure
• How Remedy's solution can process contaminated soil in hours instead of years
• The science behind breaking down "forever chemicals"
• Why focusing on highly contaminated "hot spots" is more effective
• How advanced sensing technology is revolutionizing soil contamination detection
• The business opportunity in transforming site-specific remediation projects
• Why cleaning up contaminated sites could significantly reduce future PFAS exposure
• How technology can resolve the false compromise between rapid development and environmental protection
  

Randol Aikin is a career technologist and founder of Remedy Scientific, a company pioneering scalable, tech-driven solutions for environmental contamination. With a PhD in Physics from Caltech, Randol has applied his expertise across diverse fields, from remote sensing for disaster relief to autonomous vehicles at Uber, Ike, and Apple’s special projects group. Passionate about cross-industry innovation, he focuses on using AI, sensing, and robotics to tackle land remediation, bringing a systems-thinking approach to one of the planet’s most urgent challenges.

Episode Resource

• Randol Aikin on LinkedIn
• Remedy Scientific Website
• Dylan Garrett on LinkedIn
• Synapse Website
• Hardware to Save a Planet Apple Podcasts
• Hardware to Save a Planet Spotify

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