2024 pollution prevention interns revolutionize practical sustainability

As environmental challenges get increasingly more difficult to face, private sectors are stepping into the spotlight, embracing sustainability not just as a responsibility, but as a pathway to innovation and growth. To support businesses in this work, the Washington Applied Sustainability Internship (WASI) program offers collaborative partnerships between academic institutions, government agencies, and industry.

WASI is managed by Washington Sea Grant and Ecology and funded by Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Pollution Prevention Grants. The WASI program links undergraduate college students with businesses in Washington state to solve practical environmental challenges with innovative projects that reduce pollution and promote sustainability.

What is the WASI program?

The WASI program offers undergraduate students a summer-long, immersive experience tackling environmental issues while assisting businesses in effective pollution prevention and sustainability measures. The program focuses on:

• Pollution prevention: Reducing hazardous chemical use and hazardous waste generation.
• Sustainability initiatives: Enhancing water and energy conservation, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and promoting safer chemical alternatives.
• Student development: Offering students the opportunity to apply their academic knowledge in practical settings, bridging the gap between theory and real-world applications.

Interns are paired with businesses by matching students’ skills and interests in engineering, chemistry, and sustainability with relevant projects at host organizations. This process involves an application where students submit resumes, transcripts, and letters of recommendation, allowing WASI to connect them with suitable opportunities in the field.

WASI is an option for any Washington state-based undergraduate student with junior or senior standing (including graduating seniors) in business, economics, engineering, environmental science, green chemistry, physical science or sustainability science.

Learn more about the 2024 interns and their groundbreaking contributions

This year's interns each brought unique expertise and enthusiasm to tackle significant environmental challenges across various industries. Here's a closer look at the interns and their contributions:

Casera Pinto: Reducing water usage and waste output at Taylor Farms Northwest

Casera, a recent graduate of the University of Washington with a degree in Environmental Engineering and a minor in Climate Science, worked with Taylor Farms Northwest. Their multifaceted project focused on reducing water usage and waste output at the company's Kent, WA facility. Casera tackled various aspects, including optimizing overnight sanitation practices and identifying waste reduction opportunities. Their proposed changes could potentially save approximately 19 million gallons of water annually and improve waste management practices. Casera’s experience underscored the importance of improving sustainability practices and employee engagement in achieving significant environmental benefits.

Bella Aguirre: Optimizing water use in metal finishing processes at Valence Surface Technologies

Bella will be a senior at the University of Washington working towards a bachelor’s degree in industrial and systems engineering. For her internship, she was paired up with Valence Surface Technologies. Her project focused on optimizing water use in metal finishing processes. During this time, she was able to implement an inline flow meter to monitor and reduce water consumption, targeting a reduction of 1,540 gallons per day. Her work addresses the environmental impact of water usage in chemical processes.

Zainab Ahmad: Evaluating environmental impacts of Scope 3 materials used at LOTT Clean Water Alliance

Zainab graduated with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Seattle University. Her project at the Lacey, Olympia, Tumwater, and Thurston County (LOTT) Clean Water Alliance involved creating a framework to assess the CO2 equivalence of chemicals used at the wastewater treatment plant. 

Her work involved identifying Scope 3 emissions produced from chemicals in this company. Scope 3 emissions are the indirect greenhouse gas emissions that occur in a company’s value chain. These emissions come from activities that the company doesn’t directly control but is still responsible for. This could include everything from the emissions produced by suppliers making the raw materials the company uses, to the emissions from products when customers use or dispose of them.

Zainab also studied alternatives for toxicity and the overall environmental and health impacts. Her work remains a critical part of LOTT’s efforts to enhance sustainability.

Reiden Emery: Optimizing Toray Composite Materials America Inc’s solvent recovery system and evaluating alternative solvents

Reiden is entering their senior year of studying Biochemistry at California Polytechnic State University. During their internship at Toray Composite Materials America, Reiden Emery worked on three key projects.

They designed a 3D piping assembly to integrate the Methyl Ethyl Ketone wash tank into the existing distillation unit, aiming to streamline the recycling process. They also developed a technician-friendly method for testing and calibrating N-Methyl Pyrrolidone wash tank solvents, which involved creating a calibration curve to better understand solvent parameters. Previously, there had been a two-week cycle to refresh the tanks because of unknown parameters. Reiden’s calibration curve suggested that the parameters could be extended to three weeks before recycling, but only with more testing. This would save the company about $3,350 per year. Additionally, they evaluated the effectiveness of a new compactor to reduce hazardous waste, achieving a 7% reduction and working towards a 10% target.

What’s on the horizon for WASI?

The WASI program continues to evolve every single year. Businesses can apply for the winter round of project opportunities now, while students can look forward to internship openings in the spring.

For more information or to apply, visit the WASI website or reach out to:

• Internship applications: Deborah Purce, Fellowships & Research Lead, sgfellow@uw.edu
• Business applications: Jenny Yoo, Toxics Reduction Engineer, jenny.yoo@ecy.wa.gov