Iowa Students Taking Lead Role in Pollution Prevention for Major Businesses

The interns have helped the host companies save hundreds of thousands of tons of waste.

December 2007

The Iowa Pollution Prevention Intern Program offers graduate and upper-level undergraduate students a unique experience that integrates academia, industry, and government. These entities are all working together toward environmental and economic goals. The program is sponsored by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR).

Interns gain firsthand experience in their career disciplines, as they integrate pollution prevention methods into core business practices that create economic benefits for the host companies. Between 2001 and 2006, the program and its interns are responsible for saving the host companies:

• 14.7 million kilowatt-hours of electricity
• 814,500,000 gallons of water
• 98,613 tons of solid waste
• 58,512 tons of special waste
• 815,599 gallons of hazardous waste
• 5 tons of solid hazardous waste

There is growing interest in the program. It secured funding for 37 students to participate in the 2006 summer intern program, up from 25 in 2005; 26 host companies received interns from this program in the summer of 2007.

The interns each receive one week of training in pollution prevention methodologies before starting work at the host company. The interns take on the role of project managers and identify and implement environmental opportunities.

In 2006 the University of Iowa's Engineers for a Sustainable World organization, in partnership with the DNR, adapted the Pollution Prevention Intern Program as a model to create an International Intern Exchange Program. The program is also expanding to offer six-month internships in 2008. These extended internships will appeal to students who are willing to complete more complex projects or who want to establish additional experience in their fields before they begin their career searches.