Tag: FRESH initiative

Held on September 19 – 21 at Clemson University, the FRESH 2022 Food, Packaging & Sustainability Summit focused on technology as an enabler of circular solutions across the food value chain and included strategies to achieve sustainability targets in both corporate and consumer environments.

With the help of Clemson students, faculty and staff, Sonoco FRESH worked to reduce as much waste as possible at the FRESH Summit. A Zero Waste event is one that has the goal of reducing the amount of waste produced at the event. An event can create a massive amount of waste, whether it is from food scraps and leftovers, handouts (agendas, speaker presentations, giveaways, etc.) or food and drink containers.

The industry standard for a Zero Waste event is 90% diversion from landfill. 87% of the waste from the FRESH Summit was composted, 12% was recycled and less than 1% was sent to landfill.

During the 2021-2022 academic year, with guest speakers from WM, Sonoco FRESH sponsored a Creative Inquiry (CI) course on Zero Waste events, with a second-semester focus specifically on the FRESH Summit. The CI students were instrumental in creating many of the processes and procedures that were implemented during the Summit to make it a Zero Waste event.

“When planning a Zero Waste event, you have to consider everything, including the materials going into your décor and the training you give your staff. You have to make sure everyone understands your message,” said Cassidy Nosenzo, a recent Clemson graduate who participated in the CI and spoke at the Summit. “The magic solution is to focus on the ‘reduce’ in reduce, reuse, recycle. The goal should be to reduce waste overall. It is difficult to have no waste produced from an event like this, but that is the goal we strive for. It’s a mindset and it starts at the beginning of a product life cycle rather than at the end.”

Guided by Clemson recycling staff and representatives from WM, the CI students researched and implemented strategies to reduce waste at the FRESH Summit, including minimizing printed materials with the use of an event app, utilizing fresh produce that was donated after the event for décor and designing menus with bulk items and locally-sourced products.

The CI students also researched eco-stations and identified the best options to help Summit attendees easily put their waste in the right bins. Some of the Summit eco-stations were donated, and the others were purchased with grants secured by the students. Waste sorts were held throughout and at the completion of the FRESH Summit where student volunteers ensured the accuracy of separation and weighed the waste. Attendees were encouraged to refrain from bringing any outside food or beverage to the Summit and to acquaint themselves with the waste streams of the Summit eco-stations and dispose of their waste correctly.

“The 99% landfill diversion rate from the Summit far exceeded our expectations and we were thrilled with the cooperation and enthusiasm of our students and attendees as we strived for a zero waste event,” said Anne Barr, Executive Director of Sonoco FRESH. “We hope that the success of our event will inspire others to consider what they can do to reduce waste in their personal and professional endeavors.”

Visit the FRESH Summit website for more information on the efforts to make the FRESH Summit a zero waste event.

On March 3, Sonoco FRESH hosted a virtual event, “FRESH Perspectives on Sustainability,” that featured leaders from three global corporations who shared how their companies are addressing sustainability throughout the food value chain. Also included in the event were presentations from Clemson faculty and students and updates on upcoming events, including the FRESH 2022 Food, Packaging & Sustainability Summit.

The Shifts Creating Ripples Across Food & Agriculture
Rob Dongoski, Partner, Global Agribusiness Industry Leader, Ernst & Young LLP

Rob Dongoski provided a look into the trends driving change across the industry, what consumer behaviors are reshaping food and agriculture and what should be considered to position for growth. Rob’s presentation was a precursor to a more in-depth look at the reimagined food system that he will be presenting during the FRESH Summit in September.

Developing and Testing Packaging of the Future
Clemson Faculty and Students

Dr. Andrew Hurley and his students described the work on a project sponsored by Titan Farms on The Peach Package of the Future. Dr. Greg Batt and one of his students then provided an introduction to Clemson’s ISTA-certified Packaging Dynamics Lab and showed how the lab is leveraged to prepare the next generation of packaging scientists for a rapidly changing distribution environment.

Inspiring Positive Change for People and the Planet
David Allen, Vice President & Chief Sustainability Officer, PepsiCo Foods North America

PepsiCo has recently introduced PEP+ (PEP Positive), a strategic end-to-end transformation to drive sustainable long-term value and competitive advantage. David Allen described how this initiative is changing the way PepsiCo is sourcing ingredients, making and selling products, improving packaging sustainability and inspiring people through its brands.

Developing Purpose Driven Leaders of the Future
Clemson Faculty and Students

Dr. Anastasia Thyroff and Katie Hildebrand described their innovative approaches to engaging students and industry to explore consumer behaviors and brand responsibility during this snapshot of marketing research and education at Clemson University. Several of their students joined them to describe some of the research being conducted to provide data points on consumer attitudes about sustainability.

Hundred X: Digital Technologies & Transformations to Enable Sustainable Goals
Sandeep Dadlani, Chief Digital Officer, Mars, Incorporated

Sandeep Dadlani’s presentation illustrated how the Mars digital transformation to accelerate the Mars Purpose by shaping the world we want tomorrow by empowering associates to create value 100x faster today came to life. He also highlighted how Mars is digitizing its supply chain and how the digital transformation is contributing to the Mars commitment to achieve net zero GHG emissions in its full value chain by 2050.

Sonoco FRESH will be hosting the second annual Food, Packaging & Sustainability Summit at Clemson University on Sept. 19 – 21, 2022. Register today at www.SonocoFRESHSummit.com.

Attendees from industry and academia attended the inaugural 2021 FRESH Food, Packaging & Sustainability Summit hosted by Clemson University in follow up to the 2019 Sustainability and Food Waste Summit sponsored by Sonoco in Hartsville, SC. The 2021 virtual Summit promoted the power of partnerships through illustrating connectivity among stakeholders to drive advances and send united market signals that will advance sustainability goals. The Summit began with a keynote address on the global challenges facing sustainable food systems, and over the next two days presented topics within food value chain verticals with input from stakeholders. Supply chain discussions provided overarching context for the Summit, with sessions progressing to issues specific to packaging that support safe, secure and sustainable solutions. The Summit concluded with two presentations emphasizing the importance of partnerships to drive innovation and a cohesive strategy to realize sustainable solutions.

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE EVENT

February 24, 2021

World Food Programme
The FRESH Summit began with introductions from Jim Clements, President of Clemson University, and Howard Coker, President & CEOof Sonoco, giving attendees an in-depth look at the historic relationship between Clemson and Sonoco and the creation of the Sonoco FRESH initiative. The keynote presentation by David Beasley, Executive Director of the World Food Programme, underscored the importance of private sector engagement to achieve sustainable food systems. He emphasized three key global challenges: man-made conflicts, climate change and fragile governments as primary causes of the worsening of starvation, and projected that the pre -COVID-19 numbers of 80M – 135M people on the brink of starvation will escalate to 135M – 270M. Addressing issues with urgency will reduce mass starvation, the destabilization of nations and mass migration. Private sector efforts to help achieve food security and mitigate the environmental impact of food waste in farm to market are critical. Progress can be made through improved containment systems, storage systems and packaging.

Social Hour
Introduced by Clemson’s Dean for the College of Behavioral, Social and Health Sciences, Sustainability chef Joel Gamoran demonstrated cooking sustainably at home and eco-travel expert Richard Crawford treated attendees to virtual travel experiences to eco-destinations – tracing grits from South Carolina to Peru. More tips and virtual experiences can be found at joelgamoran.com, withhomemade.com and in Amazon Prime’s Leave No Trace series.

February 25, 2021

Lessons Across the Food Value Chain
Introduced by Clemson’s Dean for the College of Business, Deloitte Consulting’s sustainability and fresh food value chain leaders provided the framework for the Summit by highlighting trends that emerged during 2020 and trends that will continue and/or evolve in the foreseeable future. Included is the emergence of the “Contemporary Consumer” representing 40% of shoppers and characterized by an increased interest in cooking at home, with 75% willing to pay a premium for fresh food, 68% trusting instore shoppers to pick out the highest quality fresh food items and 64% valuing brand attributes. The overall outlook for 2021 is positive for consumer products and food. Revenue growth is the top priority for executives. Five ‘no regret’ moves for the food value chain in an environment of continued uncertainty include 1) resetting go-to-market strategies, 2) accelerating the shift to digital, 3) building supply chain resilience, 4) investing in tomorrow’s business foundations and 5) connecting purpose to profit as purpose becomes a driver.

Overcoming Supply Chain Disruptions in Times of Change
This panel of thought leaders from Aramark, Titan Farms, Lineage Logistics and SC Ports Authority was introduced by the Dean of Clemson’s College of Engineering, Computing and Applied Sciences. The panel discussed the challenges and opportunities they have seen during the past year with significant disruptions attributed to COVID-19, and the increased demands on logistics providers – both globally and in the Southeast where Charleston’s Ports Authority doubled capacity and is positioned to meet new demands. Titan Farms shared its strategy for diverting foods from potential waste to working with a new USDA program to provide food to those in need.

IoT: The Power of Connected Packaging
Introduced by the Director of Clemson’s School of Computing and moderated by Rabobank’s executive director for supply chains, IBM’s blockchain platform and Digimarc leaders discussed advances in technologies. These technologies can be embedded into packaging to capture data to achieve safe, secure and sustainable results – highly valued by food producers, processors, retailers and consumers.  Opportunities to engage consumers with smart technologies and a future with broad adoption of technologies in multiple tiers of the farm to consumer journey were also discussed.

Going Bananas for Circular Solutions
Caue Suplicy, co-founder of Barnana, was introduced by Clemson’s AVP of Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Caue shared the fascinating story of combining his passion for healthy food and the desire to reduce food waste to create a sound business model. Barnana has upcycled more than 100M bananas to date, while also providing economic well-being and educational opportunities in Caue’s homeland of Brazil. 

February 26, 2021

Designing and Delivering Cradle-to-Cradle Packaging Solutions
Moderated by AMERIPEN and introduced by Clemson’s Dean for the College of Agriculture, Forestry and Life Sciences, the panel included industry leaders from Charter Next Generation (films), Tetra Pak, PepsiCo and TerraCycle. To frame the discussion, AMERIPEN provided a snapshot of the greenhouse gas emissions of multiple materials vs. rates of recyclability, and also shared that the global food system accounts for 26% of environmental impact. Organized to include stakeholders from across the packaging supply chain, discussions emphasized the critical need for a cohesive approach and well-coordinated product development efforts between all stakeholders. The on-going need for clear messaging to consumers on recycling protocols and recycled content was also emphasized.

Plant, Product and Planet: A Case Study Using Sugar Cane Fiber
Innovation partners Tellus Products and Sonoco shared their roles in developing a biobased material using upcycled sugar cane fiber and assessing potential markets and customers. The key relationships and distribution plans were developed to successfully place the Natrellis product in the frozen and chilled prepared meal market. Other tableware, such as bowls and produce trays, are also being manufactured.

Advanced Recycling Practices: What the Future Holds
With an overview and introduction by the Dean of Clemson’s College of Science, this panel was moderated by Sonoco and included panelists from the American Chemistry Council, Dow, The Kraft Heinz Company and Braven Environmental. Panelists focused on linking parts of the supply chain for more effective adoption of advanced recycling – including advocacy, materials needed for end markets, scalability and compliance. Braven Environmental treated attendees to a live virtual tour of one of their facilities. Key panel takeaways – buy and use recycled products, partnerships will be required to take resulting products to market, 3rd party certifications and dependable feed stock will be essential in driving acceptance and scale up and consumer trust that collected items will actually be recycled in tandem with communicating recycled content in package will be essential to success.

From Concept to Compost: How to Successfully Launch Sustainable Packaging Innovations
Moderated by BASF and introduced by Clemson’s VP of External Affairs, this panel illustrated the collaborations and commitment necessary to successfully execute a new concept with the goal of achieving compostability. The panel drew upon the KC Chiefs Extra Yard for the Environment initiative and engaged stakeholders from Missouri Organic Recycing, Mars, Printpack and Aramark. Motivation of the market is quantified by examining the top 10 US food manufacturing companies, of which 40% have compostable goals by 2025 and that 40% represents over $99B of total US food sales. The greatest hurdle in achieving compostable food packaging is in addressing the need for high barrier materials since aluminum cannot be used. Consequently, products with lower barrier requirements are first to market in this space. The timeframe for taking a CPG concept and translating it to an actionable product is typically 18-24 months and includes extensive testing to verify the safety to the consumer and the safety of the product; incremental changes also occur during this time. Ways to advance compostability were identified as establishing clear standards and 3rd party certification and using distinctive packaging when a product is “re-introduced” in a compostable package.

When Competitors Collaborate for the Greater Good
The CEO and co-founder of Closed Loop Partners (CLP) gave the final presentation and was introduced by Sonoco’s VP of Marketing and Innovation. Remarks underscored the messaging throughout the Summit on the importance of collaborative efforts to drive innovation and maximize the impact of circular solutions. Solutions enabled by CLP funds provide the foundation for solving problems that affect entire industries, sending unified market signals and accelerating advances. Issues are typically reframed beyond short-term to longer-lasting systematic solutions.

Student Poster Presentations
Clemson students were asked to submit poster presentations conveying research related to the issues associated with each part of the food value chain, from production through transportation and all the way to recycling. Dr. Chip Tonkin, Chair of the Graphics Communications program at Clemson and Director of the Sonoco Institute of Packaging Design and Graphics, introduced the 9 students who gave an overview of their projects and answered questions from the audience.

Closing Comments
Sonoco FRESH Executive Director Anne Barr summarized the themes of the Summit, highlighting the power of partnerships and the need for collaborative efforts that engage industry and academia – including students who represent the next generation of talent that will help innovate and drive the future of sustainability. Recurring themes throughout the Summit included the need for effective communication and collaboration across aligned food value chain verticals, understanding the “contemporary consumer” and addressing consumer trust through traceability, education and establishing third-party verification of sustainability claims. Summit attendees were invited to engage with industry partners and Clemson experts in advancing the important work of optimizing the food value chain – from production to consumption – to protect food and the environment.

By Kristy Pickurel

The Impact of COVID-19 on Packaging, Safety and Food Waste:
Clemson Creative Inquiry sponsored by Sonoco FRESH

Mint Innovations Team
Dakota Cook, Maria Camargo, Brennan Morgan, Ana Romero*
*Team Mentor

The Clemson COVID Challenge was a summer 2020 virtual research and design opportunity for teams of undergraduates to work on problems related to the current COVID-19 situation as well as future possible pandemics. Teams of students worked with mentors to identify problems and come up with proposed ideas and solutions. In mid-June, students submitted a pitch video of their ideas and competed for the opportunity to see their projects possibly continue to implementation. Sonoco FRESH sponsored a Creative Inquiry (CI) team to look at the impact of COVID-19 on packaging, safety and food waste. Below is a summary of the team’s project and a link to the team’s poster presentation.

When COVID-19 started to spread quickly across the country in early March 2020, restaurants, bars and many other places started closing. The resulting shift in food demand, combined with a change in consumer behavior, caused a strain in the supply chain.

The CI team members performed literature reviews, interviews with corporate experts in packaging and agriculture, brainstormed potential solutions and created a 3-minute video pitch describing their proposed solution of vacuum packaging.

Vacuum packaging is a type of packaging that extends shelf life by removing oxygen and preserves quality of food and increases shelf life by eliminating growth of spoilage bacteria (aerobic bacteria). Extending shelf life reduces food waste, and the tamper evident packaging will add an additional layer of comfort and safety in consumers’ minds.

View the Team’s Poster Presentation

The mission of the Sonoco FRESH initiative is to have a major impact on the safety, security and sustainability of food. This means looking holistically at the food life cycle and identifying opportunities that reimagine processes, technologies and behaviors. More information on the Sonoco FRESH initiative can be found at www.clemson.edu/SonocoFRESH.

By Kristy Pickurel

Clemson University’s Recycling Services department manages a compost site which processes food waste from campus. The site is located at the Cherry Crossing Research Facility. Just like the rest of us it has been greatly impacted by COVID-19, but work at the site has not stopped. Student interns Matthew Lawrence and Jared Montgomery were kind enough to give FRESH a tour of the facility earlier this spring.

Food scraps, paper towel waste and yard waste are generated and collected on campus in green composting bins. Clemson’s recycling staff picks the bins up and takes them to the Cherry Crossing facility, where the organic waste is dumped onto a bed of wood chips. The chips and waste are mixed thoroughly to create a pile.

This mixture then undergoes a 6-week process of progressing piles, ending with the cure pile, which is loaded into a trommel and sifted into the final product of sifted compost. The sifted compost can be land applied or used as soil amendment. The compost piles are turned every other day to make sure they are aerated properly and decomposing as quickly as they can.

Clemson’s composting program began with a $25,000 grant from the South Carolina DHEC Office of Waste & Recycling, which allowed the university to purchase an in-vessel composter that is still in use today. An alternative to the manual process just described, the composter processes waste much more quickly. Waste and wood chips are combined in the unit’s mixer and then sent to the tumbler. The tumbler rotates once every hour and helps to accelerate the process.

Cherry Crossing’s final compost product is used by campus landscaping as well as the student organic farm. This past year a large majority went to Musser Fruit Farm, Clemson’s fruit research farm. The compost is also typically sold to the community, but sales were suspended at the time of our tour. With Clemson’s campus shutting down as a result of the pandemic, there had been an extreme shortage of food waste produced from campus. Before the campus closed due to COVID-19, the recycling staff was picking up about 48 bins per day. Now they’re only collected an average of 10 bins a week.

Aside from the effects of the pandemic, the composting program’s biggest challenge is contamination, i.e. items that can’t be composted being placed in the composting bins. These include film plastics such as plastic bags and saran wrap, as well as metal forks and plastic cups from the dining halls. According to Lawrence, Clemson’s composting program was constantly expanding until the virus hit. Since he began interning with the program in November of 2019, composting bins have been placed in two new POD (provisions on demand) markets on campus. The team has also started a community garden at the Cherry Crossing facility and hopes to begin distributing the fruits of its plants in the near future.

For more information on Clemson’s composting and recycling programs, please visit the Clemson Website.

The mission of the Sonoco FRESH initiative is to have a major impact on the safety, security and sustainability of food. This means looking holistically at the food life cycle and identifying opportunities that reimagine processes, technologies and behaviors. More information on the Sonoco FRESH initiative can be found at www.clemson.edu/SonocoFRESH.

Visit the FRESH YouTube Channel to view a video of the tour.

By Kristy Pickurel

During the spring of 2020, Clemson students Shemar Bryant, Maddyson Frierson, Caroline Joseph and Emily White, led by the university’s Recycling Manager Dave VanDeventer, participated in a Creative Inquiry (CI) sponsored by Sonoco FRESH to document the current life cycle of food waste on campus. The goal of their effort, the Clemson Food Waste Recovery Initiative, was to develop a guide that prioritizes actions to prevent or divert food waste from landfills.

The team researched colleges and universities across the United States that are considered leaders in the areas of the EPA Hierarchy of Food Recovery – institutions that implement actions at the top levels of the hierarchy, which are considered the best ways to prevent and divert wasted food because they create the most benefits for the environment, society and the economy. The project highlighted the programs that the team believed stood out and could benefit, and potentially be implemented at, Clemson.

Clemson has seen many successes when it comes to reducing food waste, but there is always room for improvement. Trayless dining has been implemented on campus, but according to rising junior Caroline Joseph, “people see the dining hall as an all you can eat buffet and they don’t think twice about throwing away the food they don’t like or loading up their plates with more than they know they are going to eat.” The CI team identified Clemson’s composting program as one of the university’s strong suits when it comes to food waste reduction and would love to see the program expand to non-dining hall locations on campus, such as Chick-fil-A and Subway.  Most of Clemson’s athletic programs have steadily approached zero waste. In fact, Clemson secured first place in the Game Day Recycling Challenge in 2014, 2017 and 2018. The challenge is an annual event where colleges and universities across the nation complete to see who can recycle or reduce the most waste during football games. 123,661 pounds of trash were recycled during Clemson’s 2018 home football games.

One area the CI students discussed at length was food donation. Currently, Clemson donates perishable and non-perishable goods to the Golden Corner Food Pantry in Seneca, SC. Thus far, 22,000 lbs. of items have been donated for the 2019-2020 school year. The university also supports the Paw Pantry, a student-run, on-campus space offering supplies of food and hygiene products. While the school holds food drives and encourages students to use their Paw Points/Tiger Stripe balances to benefit the pantry, the pantry cannot offer perishable goods like produce, milk or meat. According to CI student Caroline Joseph, “There are a lot of food safety issues, storage problems and a lack of transportation that feed into the inability to donate all of our leftover food. There are so many other schools around the same size as Clemson that have excellent donation programs to food pantries on campus and in the surrounding areas, so we know it’s possible.” The CI team would like to see Clemson create a Food Recovery Network, similar to what Northern Arizona University (NAU) has done. A professional nonprofit with 230 chapters across the United States, Food Recovery Network is the largest student movement fighting food waste and hunger in America. NAU started its initiative in 2014 and recovers approximately 4,000 lbs. of hot food every semester and donates it to local food banks. “When we look at donating food at Clemson, the first challenge would be knowing when food is available to donate. The second would be how we collect it and transport it safety,” explained VanDeventer. “I am hoping it can become a collaborative effort where student volunteers can be directly involved.”

Getting students to volunteer is both a challenge and an opportunity at Clemson. According to Joseph, “I think the biggest challenge for reducing food waste is getting people motivated and educated about the issue. If students don’t care because of a lack of knowledge, nothing is going to change. Though the dining halls and composting centers can do some things about food waste, the students are really the ones in control. We have the means and the motivation to do a lot of good for the community, but people just don’t know about the issue or don’t understand the severity of it.”

There are absolutely opportunities to learn more about the food waste issue, and/or to get involved with campus efforts. For more information on how waste is handled at Clemson, visit https://cufacilities.sites.clemson.edu/recycling/recyclingInfo. Also, Dave VanDeventer and FRESH graduate research assistant Ana Romero will be leading another CI project this fall, this time with a focus on the disposal of packaging. Sustainability has become a hot topic among consumers, who demand that the products they purchase have sustainable packaging. Yet the professionals who develop this packaging don’t always consider the end of the package’s life, creating more of a challenge than anything for the professionals working at the recycling and compost centers. For more information on this CI, visit https://www.clemson.edu/centers-institutes/watt/creative-inquiry/ or reach out to VanDeventer directly at dvand@clemson.edu.

Sonoco FRESH is a multi-disciplinary hub for innovation and research at Clemson University whose mission is to have a major impact on the safety, security and sustainability of food. Visit www.clemson.edu/SonocoFRESH for more information, including Clemson student and faculty research.

The Sonoco FRESH initiative at Clemson University has awarded four research grants to professors who are addressing issues regarding food waste. In the U.S. alone, food waste is estimated at 40% across the food chain. With funding provided by Sonoco (a global provider of a variety of consumer packaging, industrial products, protective packaging, and displays and packaging supply chain services), the project subjects range in scope from packaging innovation to consumer communication.

The faculty members receiving the research grants are:

• Ya-Ping Sun, Ph.D., Endowed Chair Professor, Chemistry Department
• Kristen Elaine Okamoto, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Communications Department
• Srikanth Pilla, Ph.D., Jenkins Endowed Professor, Department of Automotive Engineering
• Kay Cooksey, Ph.D., Professor and Cryovac Endowed Chair, Department of Food, Nutrition and Packaging Sciences

The mission of the Sonoco FRESH initiative, which was established with a generous philanthropic donation from the Sonoco Foundation, is to have a major impact on the reduction of food waste. With Clemson University’s top academic experts involved in every step of the food value chain, FRESH is a multi-disciplinary hub for research and innovation to deliver solutions to reduce food waste and promote sustainability. More information on the Sonoco FRESH initiative can be found at www.sonocofresh.com.  

By Kadence Baker

The FRESH initiative at Clemson University is a multi-disciplinary hub for research and innovation to address critical issues related to food waste and sustainability. Located in the Harris A. Smith Building, its mission is to have a major impact on the reduction of food waste. This means looking holistically at the food value chain to identify opportunities that reimagine the processes, sciences, technologies and behaviors for the greater good of society.

Recently, new members joined the team alongside Anne Barr, executive director of the FRESH initiative, Dr. Windsor Sherrill, Clemson’s associate vice president for health and research, and Dr. Jeff Rhodehamel, associate director of the Sonoco Institute and professor of food, nutrition and packaging science.

Kristy Pickurel was recently hired full-time as the new marketing and events manager for FRESH. She is originally from North Carolina and graduated from Elon University with a degree in business administration with a concentration in marketing. Pickurel has worked in various marketing roles for nearly two decades and joins the FRESH team from the Environmental Research and Education Foundation, a nonprofit that funds research and education for sustainable waste management practices.

Christian Hussey is the new, full-time administrative assistant for FRESH. Hussey is originally from Manning, SC. In December she graduated from Clemson with a degree in parks, recreation and tourism management. In a former role at Clemson, Hussey helped manage events for the president’s box at Clemson football games. With that experience, she has been a wealth of knowledge to help plan the FRESH Food Waste & Sustainability Summit on Sept. 22-23 at Clemson.

Ana Romero is a Ph.D. candidate in packaging science at Clemson. Romero has multiple degrees, including a degree from the University of Costa Rica as well as an M.S. in food science from Clemson. Romero’s research is focused on intelligent packaging with sustainable materials. She plans to graduate with her doctorate this August.

Caroline Trembly is the social media intern for FRESH. She is a senior marketing major from Greenville, SC. She enjoys working on content creation and brand strategy. Her focus is on combining logistics and strategy in a creative space. Trembly is also an intern for the Erwin Center for Brand Communications at Clemson.

Kaylea von Seggern is FRESH’s market research intern. Von Seggern is a senior marketing major and packaging science minor at Clemson. Von Seggern recently finished her term as president of the Clemson Marketing Association and is heavily involved with her sorority. Before joining the FRESH team, von Seggern interned for Sealed Air Corporation.

Visit www.sonocofresh.com to learn more about Clemson’s FRESH initiative.