Achievement

IGERT Trainee Leslie Miller completed a research project this semester that evaluated the role of packaging in urban food infrastructure. This project assessed waste streams from large commercial venues in Colorado; a thorough review of literature on food life cycle assessments; evaluated a typical food basket for Denver to determine the amount of packaging used; and included a preliminary study to characterize the different types of plastics that were used in that food basket. Results of this report are currently being synthesized for a publication that will be submitted this summer to a peer-reviewed journal. Ms. Miller was also awarded a travel scholarship to the Symposium on Industrial Ecology for Young Professionals, sponsored by the National Science Foundation, to present a poster related to this research.