Illinois EPA Pollution Prevention Interns begin Twelve Week Program at Illinois Facilities

SPRINGFIELD — Illinois EPA Director Lisa Bonnett today announced the start of the 2015 Pollution Prevention Internship Program.  The program, which began in 1989, recruits upper-level university students to work on pollution prevention projects over a 12-week summer internship. Today is the first day for Pollution Prevention (P2) interns to begin work at their host facilities, following a week of in-depth training at Illinois EPA headquarters.

The purpose of the student internship program is to help facilities reduce environmental impacts, improve efficiencies and reduce costs.  The program is also designed to provide college students with practical work experience and the opportunity to improve the environment.

“Through this program, Illinois EPA is able to provide these future professionals with ‘hands-on’ learning opportunities and real-world business experience,” said Director Bonnett. “Through the work of these interns, participating companies are able to reduce energy costs, divert solid and hazardous wastes from landfills, and conserve millions of gallons of water, benefiting both the companies and the environment.”

The selected students typically have backgrounds in engineering or environmental management.  Each student must complete a one-week training class with Illinois EPA that focuses on topics such as net zero waste, energy efficiency, water conservation, process mapping and renewable energy.  Having completed the P2 training program, which began May 18 in Springfield, students will now spend the remainder of the 12-week summer session working as temporary, full-time employees at the sponsoring facilities. 

Illinois EPA recruits, trains and pays a portion of the intern salaries through a cost-sharing arrangement with participating facilities.  The host facilities will provide oversight and monitor their performance. The P2 interns must prepare and submit bi-weekly reports.

During the summer of 2014, 14 P2 interns made recommendations that potentially saved the participating host facilities over $250,000.  This cumulative savings included reduced operating and disposal costs, as well as energy reduction costs.

The students, disciplines and universities, companies they will be working for and hometowns are:

For more information on the Illinois EPA’s Pollution Prevention program can be found at: http://www.epa.illinois.gov/topics/pollution-prevention/p2-internship/index.  For information on the P2 Internship Program, please contact Richard Reese at (217) 557-8671, or Richard.Reese@Illinois.gov.  Please Note: The deadline for both the student and host facility to apply each year is January 31st.