Sustainable Dining Internship

Timeline

2025

Description

Affiliated programs: Green Devils Intern Program

Summary 

The project focused on addressing post-consumer food waste at East Campus Marketplace by building a scalable, data-driven system for measuring and understanding waste patterns. The core purpose was to move beyond one-time audits toward a repeatable methodology that enables long-term tracking of food waste by food category and diner behavior - supporting Duke’s broader climate and sustainability goals. Key stakeholders included Duke Dining leadership, Marketplace staff, the Office of Climate and Sustainability, and student diners, with collaboration centered on increasing operational insights and student engagement. Through designing/executing structured waste audits, analyzing data, and documenting processes, the project generated actionable insights around drivers of waste such as portioning, habits, and food perception.

Goals

1) Develop a replicable food waste audit system
2) Generate evidence-based, actionable insights and recommendations to reduce food waste and emissions
3) Build a foundation for long-term sustainability impact
4) Develop operational/working understanding of dining hall operations and how campus dining fits into broader food-system dynamics

Experience and Learning Outcomes

This project was part of the year-long, paid Green Devils internship program managed by the Office of Climate and Sustainability. This internship was comprised of two main components: implementing the waste audits and translating the data into meaningful insights. In coordination with Marketplace leadership and Kaitlyn Welzen, the intern planned and carried out four four-hour food waste audits during East Campus Marketplace dinner hours (5PM to close). They worked closely with recruited student volunteers to sort and weigh post-consumer waste, while also managing setup and teardown for each audit. This
required developing a volunteer recruitment strategy and an audit workflow that could operate effectively during peak dining hours and remain repeatable for future use.
In the second phase, they analyzed the data to identify patterns in what was being wasted and why, then synthesized those findings into clear, actionable takeaways for Dining leadership. The intern shared progress through mid-semester updates and produced a final report that connected the data to practical recommendations, such as improving awareness of portion flexibility and addressing perception-driven waste. Through this experience, the student strengthened their ability to work with real-world data, coordinate across teams and stakeholders, and translate analysis into tangible decisions.

Recommendations

Building on the success and lessons of the year, the intern identified one of the biggest opportunities of simply making students more aware that they can ask for smaller portions. This was "something many didn’t realize, but could make a real difference in reducing waste," reported the student. Continuing and standardizing the waste audit process would be
valuable for tracking progress over time and seeing what changes actually work. "Looking ahead, it would be helpful to gather more long-term data and dig deeper into specific stations or menu items to better understand student behavior and where the most impactful improvements can be made", reflects the student lead.

Student Interns: Luke Wang and Montana Lee

Intern Supervisor: Kaitlyn Welzen, Dining Sustainability Manager