Sustainable Dining Internship

Timeline

2024

This internship ran from August 2024 to May 2025.

Description

Affiliated program: Green Devils Intern Program

Summary

The Sustainable Dining Intern supported Kaitlyn Welzen, Sustainability Manager of Duke Dining. The intern conducted extensive research on reusable container programs, including company options, peer university models, and best practices for container return and tracking. They also wrote and filmed a promotional video to encourage student participation in Duke’s reusable container initiative. Related, they also designed and implemented a waste audit protocol, conducting seven audits and creating a student survey to understand food waste behaviors. Additionally, they collaborated with the Marketplace dining team and delivered a final analysis report with recommendations for reducing waste and improving future audits. Finally, they explored food waste reduction apps used at other universities for potential implementation at Duke.

Goal

1. Build capacity for partners in Dining by supporting background research for sustainability recommendations.

2. Reduce food waste through data-driven initiatives like waste audits.

3. Support long-term program development by drafting protocols, collecting student feedback, and making recommendations for future interns.

4. Research and evaluate products (e.g., reusable container companies, food waste tracking
apps) for potential integration into Duke’s dining systems.

5. . Create educational materials to support the efforts outlined above.

Experience and Learning Outcomes

This project was part of the year-long paid Green Devils internship managed by the Office of Climate and Sustainability. As part of the reusable container program research, the intern researched programs operated by peer institutions, including reviewing companies, products, policies, and tracking program. They also wrote a script and filmed a video promoting reusable containers. As part of the waste audit, the intern developed a protocol, created survey to uncover what was driving food waste among first-year diners, conducted 7 audits, and brainstormed waste reduction strategies for Duke Dining staff to adopt. Further, the intern translated audit takeaways into an analysis for the Marketplace team. The intern reported "There are a lot of complexities behind the scenes, and there are a lot of reasons why simple solutions may not work. Implementing sustainable practices requires a lot of different approvals and is a long process." They also shared that they gained skills around interviewing students to result in honest responses around behavior.

Recommendations

The intern reported that building strong relationships and communications channels is key to success, and future interns should invest in this collaboration. They also shared that waste audits should be more hands on (i.e., actually weighing out leftover food and categorizing it) it further understand what is behind food waste and design more effective preventative strategies.

Student Interns: Emely Arredondo and Katherine He

Intern Supervisor: Kaitlyn Welzen, Sustainability Manager of Duke Dining