- Consumer attitudes towards packaging and packaging waste (in collaboration and with financial support from the University of Florida and AMERIPEN)
- The role of in home modular composters to address issues in household accessibility to organics waste management services (in collaboration with Food Cycler Science)
- Working with the Canadian Standards Association in developing a formal definition for plastic recycling and waste flow tracking
- Working with Environment Climate Change Canada to develop an open standard for data collection as it pertains to consumer based packaging
- Diversion with a purpose: Working with Furniture Bank, one of Canada’s leading charities, to quantify the environmental, economic and social impact of furniture and household wares donations
- Working with the Toronto Region Conservation Authority and Partners in Project Green as a resource partner to develop training modules for diversion in the IC&I sector
- Conducting a waste management needs assessment for York University – this includes quantifying the recycling rates, diversion rates and total carbon footprint for the university’s waste management services.
- Work with York University’s Sustainability department in developing Canada’s first circular economy innovation hub
- Textile Circularity: Working with Fashion Takes Action and Diabetes Canada to develop a nation wide action plan for textile circularity (In-Kind)
- Extended Producer Responsibility for Packaging Waste. Working with a range of both domestic and international stakeholders, we help jurisdictions understand the economic and administrative challenges associated with producer responsibility policy. We advocate for non-prescriptive packaging legislation that gives producers the latitude to develop solutions that make the most sense for their products and the jurisdiction in which they operate (all work done in-kind)
- Reduce, Reuse, Rethink – We help stakeholders understand the principles of the waste management hierarchy, and work with them to develop sustainable waste management solutions. Part of our work in this space is educating people that recycling should not be the focal point of waste management policy, and that zero waste and circularity requires a deconceptualizing of how we consume, what we consume and how it is managed at its end of life (In collaboration with Waste Free Ottawa)
- Why single use plastics is not a dirty word – This project is devoted to helping stakeholders understand that single use plastics have a vital role to play in a sustainable economy, and why single use plastic bans will cause more harm than good (All work done In-Kind)
- Developing an expanded life cycle analysis framework for evaluating the merits of product packaging
Current Funders:
- OFI/Club Coffee
- Food Cycler Science
- AMERIPEN
- USA RECYCLE
- University of Florida
- Consortium for Waste Circularity
- Diabetes Canada
- Domtar Paper
- Furniture Bank
Recent Reports
Personal Interests
1) Evaluating the efficacy of municipal policy instruments used to promote waste diversion
2) Optimizing the recycling system to achieve increased diversion while minimizing material management costs
3) Examining the role of race and ethnicity as antecedents to pro environmental behaviors
4) Encouraging pro environmental behavior among minority and marginalized groups, with a specific examination of how structural inequality manifests itself in impeded access to recycling/waste services.
