Sustainability Intern at Sanmar in Issaquah, Washington
This summer I have been working as a sustainability intern for SanMar, which is a global apparel company based out of Issaquah, Washington. The apparel industry accounts for roughly 2% of global GHG emissions each year, and SanMar along with 100’s of other apparel companies have set science based targets to reduce their emissions by 2030. I work with SanMar’s sustainability team to ensure they are on track to meet these targets, and while each day looks a little different I have had a couple projects that I’ve worked on over the course of my internship. One has been using the Higg Facilitily Environmental Module, which is a tool that allows companies to see how their facilities are performing in regard to their environmental management systems, energy use, water use, wastewater, emissions to air, waste management, and chemical management. I’ve also been working to calculate SanMar’s scope 3 GHG emissions. Doing this internship has given me valuable insight into what sustainability looks like at a corporate level. Working jobs such as this one and others offered by the co-op program allows you to apply skills gained from your degree into a workplace environment, and allows you to retain knowledge from your job that you can then go on to use in your classes. Personally, this is my second co-op term, and I would highly recommend any UBC forestry students enroll in the co-op program.