Examining Food Waste and Recovery at Neyland Stadium: Julia Swart’s Capstone Project
January 6, 2026
Julia Swart, a recent Master of Public Administration (MPA) graduate of the Howard H. Baker Jr. School of Public Policy and Public Affairs, was drawn to the program by her passion for food policy and her desire to make a meaningful impact in the fight against hunger. It was only natural, then, that she chose to examine the food waste and recovery program at the University of Tennessee’s Neyland Stadium for her capstone project.
Swart collaborated with the university, the United Way of Greater Knoxville, and the Knoxville-Knox County Food Policy Council to develop strategies to make food recovery and redistribution more efficient and impactful. Together, they investigated capacity challenges such as limited staffing, storage constraints, and logistical hurdles faced by many nonprofits.
At the center of her research is the UT Food Waste Program, an established initiative that collects untouched food after each home UT football game. With more than 100,000 fans in the stadium on Saturdays, the volume of leftover, perfectly good food adds up quickly.
A Pennsylvania native, Swart was unfamiliar with the UT Food Waste Program. After learning about the scale of waste generated during the football season, she immediately recognized it as both a challenge and an opportunity. “I thought it would be a great way to put all of the skills that I have developed throughout my time in this program and throughout my academic career to good use and make an impact in the community,” she said.
Her capstone centers on three key areas: policy analysis, process improvement, and clear, actionable recommendations. She began by examining Knoxville and Knox County’s existing food-waste policies and pulling from local, state, and federal frameworks for guidance. From there, she moved into a process-improvement analysis, mapping how recovered food travels from stadium kitchens to community organizations. Her evaluation highlighted a key opportunity: by adjusting current priorities, the program could scale more effectively and better position itself for long-term success.
With her findings, Swart crafted a set of recommendations designed to strengthen long-term sustainability. She proposed creating or contracting at least one dedicated Food Waste and Recovery staff role within the City of Knoxville, identifying a city-owned venue event to pilot a recovery process, and conducting a detailed comparative analysis of costs including physical space, labor, time, and food volume. Her ideas focused not only on efficiency, but on building a more resilient framework for the future, one that could support nonprofits even as the scale of recovery grows.
For Knoxville, food insecurity continues to affect families across the county, and recovered stadium food offers a tangible, immediate way to make a difference. Strengthening the food waste and recovery efforts means fewer barriers and more meals distributed where needed most.
For Swart, the project was just as meaningful personally. Working side-by-side with nonprofit partners gave her a deeper understanding of what public service looks like in action.
“I think being able to do a capstone that was so hands-on within the nonprofit sector in Knoxville was an incredible way to wrap up my time in the program,” she said. “Every nonprofit operates differently, and getting to see that unfold in real time made everything click. A lot of things in the nonprofit world just happen. They’ve always been done a certain way, and no one person is documenting it all. Being able to map that out was meaningful.”
As the university looks ahead to future football seasons, Swart’s work offers a roadmap for increasing impact and supporting the organizations doing essential food recovery work in Knoxville. Her capstone showcases what can happen when policy analysis meets community partnership, and when students take the lead in pushing meaningful initiatives forward.