People, Products, & Community

As part of our commitment to the communities where we operate, 14 Energy Recovery employees from accounting, finance, operations, and engineering volunteered at the Alameda County Community Food Bank in November 2024. The team worked together to sort food items and pack both perishables and non-perishables, helping neighbors facing food insecurity.

In total, 398 bags of food were sorted, curated, and packed for distribution. Our employees not only felt a deep sense of fulfillment from assisting the food bank and supporting the community, but they also enjoyed teamwork and camaraderie to kick off the holiday season.

Shaun Casuat’s history with Energy Recovery stretches back years before he joined the company as an employee. He first visited the San Leandro office as a local high school student on a field trip and returned as an industrial engineering major at California State University, East Bay, for a school project, which then led to an internship. He was already very familiar with the company when he was hired full-time as a Health, Safety, Environment (HSE) engineer, and with demonstrated experience in Smartsheet and Power BI, he set to work on creating centralized and accessible data visualization dashboards for the HSE team including waste, incident reporting, and safety inspections.

Shaun took personal initiative to work across multiple departments to implement new digital recordkeeping systems, which he then compiled into an aggregated dashboard that allows us to visualize our progress at a glance and identify areas where we could improve, such as alumina waste disposal. The dashboards also keep track of our safety, facilities, and sustainability reporting system, creating a streamlined workflow to respond to all employee suggestions and feedback.

When Talent Acquisition Manager Pawandeep Aujla joined Energy Recovery at the end of 2022, she took the initiative to formalize the company’s summer internships and grow them into a fully-fledged cross-functional program, giving interns a memorable learning experience.

Under Pawandeep’s guidance internships shifted to a project-based focus, with each intern assigned a tangible objective that aligns with the company’s ongoing business goals. Projects in summer 2023 included digitizing the company’s manuals, developing waste reduction protocols, and improving the efficiency of our R&D test loops. This approach provides interns with a hands-on, results-driven learning experience that clearly demonstrates their skills and actively contributes to Energy Recovery’s overall strategy. Interns came together at the end of the summer with their teams for a “Presentation Day” to celebrate their progress, share their learnings, and collaborate cross-functionally.

Beyond direct work experience, Pawandeep curated activities to cultivate camaraderie and networking among the interns, who were spread across different teams. These social activities encouraged interns to integrate in the company culture and made the work environment more welcoming to students new to the corporate environment.

On a routine job walk, Mo quickly implemented the Stop Work Authority policy when he stumbled upon a group of contractors using a ladder that was too small for the task at hand. By jumping into action and insisting they procure the properly sized ladder, Mo prevented a potential serious accident or injury.