Nestlé Purina

Environmental Engineering Intern

May - August 2024 • St. Louis, MO

What I liked

During my time at Purina, I was assisting the environmental and sustainability teams. My responsibilities for the environmental team included assisting the team in actions that contribute to ensuring Purina’s factories’ compliance with safety standards and government regulations. One particular project was researching ways for zero waste for disposal at one of the factories. My responsibilities for the sustainability team consisted of creating energy flow diagrams of various Purina factories and attending site visits to strategize energy efficiency in preparation of sustainability team’s Manufacturing Masterplan Workshops. I really enjoyed getting to work with my team members and also being able to travel to sites in other US cities. Purina employees can bring their dogs to work so that was always a fun thing to experience too!

What I wish was different

Looking back at this internship, I wish that I would have been able to get more of a technical experience and understanding of the processes that create their products. I found it very hard to fully grasp and understand what was taking place in the factories without being able to see it physically. However, we did have many site visits we were able to go to as interns which increased my technical knowledge.

Advice

I piece of advice I would share from this experience is to be confident in yourself and actions. I would often find myself in situations often times where I would be too afraid to do something because I was not confident enough. If I believed in myself more and made those actions more things could have gotten done. However, it is never a bad thing to ask for help. Eventually, you will gain enough confident that help won't be needed as often. Also, communication is key. Alot of my tasks required me to maintain communication and good relations with some of the factories' workers. They were crucial is obtaining the data I needed to complete my work. Without good communication none of this could have happened.

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