Projects
At the Circular Innovation Hub, we lead forward-thinking projects that address the growing challenges of waste management and circular economy development. Our research spans the full policy and behavioural landscape of the circular economy, from improving transparency and accountability in waste practices through initiatives like the Federal Open Data Standard for Plastics, to building open-access knowledge resources such as the Packaging EPR Library and the Packaging Label Atlas, which document producer responsibility systems and packaging labelling rules across every jurisdiction in the world.
We place particular emphasis on the evidence behind circular economy claims. Our work examines how extended producer responsibility fees can be eco-modulated to reward genuine environmental improvement, why consumer reuse and refill systems succeed or break down in practice, and how life cycle assessment can be applied to packaging, coatings, and other materials to move beyond waste-only measures of performance.
We also focus on empowering people and communities. Through the Language of Sustainability Learning Series, the Plastics with Purpose youth material literacy program, and our policy primer From Eco-Anxiety to Agency, we help educators, institutions, and the public turn environmental awareness into constructive action. And on the ground, we work alongside community partners on projects ranging from household organics diversion in Toronto community housing to textile circularity and waste management in rural, remote, and Indigenous communities.
By collaborating with key industry, government, academic, and community partners, we aim to develop practical, scalable solutions that have real-world impacts. Explore our current research projects to see how we are shaping a more sustainable and circular future through innovative strategies and meaningful collaboration.
Plastics with Purpose: Material Literacy for Youth
In partnership with the Vinyl Institute of Canada, we are developing a K–12 material literacy program that helps students understand when polymers are purpose-built, how they perform, and how to compare material choices using evidence rather than waste-only shortcuts. This is not a general pro-plastics campaign; it is an intervention designed to give young people the tools to evaluate environmental claims critically, including claims made about plastics themselves.
The program began with a curricular audit and a baseline analysis of how plastics are discussed in youth social media, followed by field testing of draft content with Grade 3 and Grade 9 students to check clarity and screen for greenwashing. Content is organized into four pillars tailored by age group: Food, Safety and Play (ages 5–9), Innovation and Technology (ages 10–14), Everyday Performance and Durability (ages 15–18), and a cross-cutting Superior Environmental Performance pillar that introduces life cycle assessment thinking. To date, 15 curriculum assets and 150 social media assets have been produced. A 15–25 classroom pilot launches in fall 2026, with an impact assessment measuring shifts in student perception and youth discourse in the first half of 2027.
Funded by: Vinyl Institute of Canada
Where Reuse Breaks Down: Behavioural Attrition in Consumer Packaging Reuse
Reusable packaging sits at the top of the waste hierarchy, yet most reuse and refill systems are evaluated on the format they launch with rather than the number of cycles they actually achieve. This study examines why consumer reuse breaks down in practice, distinguishing the closed industrial systems that succeed (pallets, kegs, crates) from the consumer-facing systems that routinely lose participants and containers after the first few uses.
Drawing on original consumer survey data, cluster analysis by product category, and international case studies, the report shows that attrition is patterned rather than random: it is shaped by product type, system architecture, return logistics, and consumer context. It sets out break-even thresholds for different reusable formats, identifies the conditions under which reuse can genuinely outperform single-use alternatives, and proposes the performance metrics that any reuse pilot should be able to report before a scaling decision is made.
Funded by: In-Kind
Eco-Modulation of Extended Producer Responsibility Fees
Eco-modulation, the practice of adjusting EPR fees to reward or penalize specific packaging attributes, is increasingly written into producer responsibility legislation across North America, but there is limited evidence on whether it changes producer behaviour or simply redistributes costs. Building on our broader research into eco-modulated fee design, we are working with the Western Growers Association to model how eco-modulation affects fresh produce packaging.
Produce packaging presents a distinctive challenge because material choices are constrained by food safety, shelf life, and spoilage prevention, and fee schedules designed around recyclability alone can inadvertently penalize packaging that reduces food waste. The project models the fee exposure of common produce packaging formats under existing and proposed eco-modulation schedules, evaluates the trade-offs between recyclability, food loss, and life cycle impact, and identifies fee designs that reward genuine environmental improvement without compromising food safety.
Funded by: Western Growers Association
Life Cycle Assessment of Energy-Curable (UV/EB) Coatings
In partnership with RadTech, the association for ultraviolet and electron beam technologies, we are conducting a comparative life cycle assessment of energy-curable coatings against conventional thermally cured coatings in the coil coating sector, where large volumes of steel are coated for building and industrial applications.
The assessment models multiple coating scenarios, including full and partial substitution of thermal coatings with UV/EB alternatives, and evaluates energy consumption, water use, volatile organic compound emissions, thermal oxidizer combustion, and greenhouse gas impacts. Because results are highly sensitive to the carbon intensity of electricity, the model compares outcomes across several North American grid regions rather than a single best-case scenario. The work has been developed iteratively with RadTech's technical members to ensure that assumptions about line speeds, coating thicknesses, and substrate gauges reflect real industry practice.
Funded by: RadTech
Scarlettwood Composts! Community Waste Audit
In collaboration with the University of Guelph, good futures collective, and the Scarlettwood Warriors for Change, a resident-led group at a Toronto Community Housing complex, we are supporting a community organics diversion project through applied waste research. The project pairs rigorous waste audit methodology with community-driven action, so that residents can see the measurable impact of their own composting efforts.
Our role includes designing and conducting waste audits of the building's shared waste enclosures, contributing to resident focus groups, and advising on a multilingual household survey (including Farsi translation) that examines the behavioural drivers of composting participation: attitudes, social norms, and perceived behavioural control. Findings will inform both the community's ongoing program and the broader question of how to make organics diversion work in multi-residential and community housing settings, where participation rates have historically lagged.
Funded by: In-Kind (community project supported by the City of Toronto Neighbourhood Climate Action grant)
Solid Waste Management in Rural, Remote, and Indigenous Communities in Canada
We are contributing a chapter to a forthcoming Springer edited volume, Solid Waste Management in Rural, Remote, and Indigenous Communities in Canada, led by researchers at the University College of the North and the University of Regina, with contributors from universities across the country.
Rural, remote, and Indigenous communities face waste management conditions that differ fundamentally from those assumed by most provincial policy: long haul distances, limited or no access to recycling markets, seasonal road access, reliance on open dumps or small landfills, and the high per-tonne cost of diversion programs designed for urban densities. Our chapter examines how circular economy strategies and producer responsibility frameworks can be adapted to these realities, and where policies built for southern urban centres fall short.
Funded by: In-Kind
Evidence-Based Review of Packaging EPR Outcomes
We continue to provide independent, evidence-based analysis of packaging extended producer responsibility program performance to policymakers, industry, and the public across North America. This work draws on more than a decade of our research into Canadian EPR programs, including the finding that the transition to full producer responsibility has not produced measurable increases in recycling rates despite substantial cost escalation.
In 2026, this included serving as an expert witness in litigation concerning Oregon's Plastic Pollution and Recycling Modernization Act, providing testimony on the anticipated economic and recycling-rate outcomes of the program based on the Canadian experience. Our ongoing objective is to ensure that EPR legislation is designed around demonstrated performance rather than assumed benefits, and that its costs and outcomes are transparently reported.
Funded by: National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors
From Eco-Anxiety to Agency
Our policy primer, From Eco-Anxiety to Agency: A Policy Primer on Environmental Distress, Public Trust, and Community Resilience, reframes eco-anxiety as a governance, communication, and education challenge rather than solely a mental health issue. It argues that environmental distress is shaped not only by environmental risk but by the institutional conditions surrounding it: how institutions communicate, whether their actions are credible, how responsibility is distributed, and whether affected communities have meaningful influence.
The report introduces the "awareness–agency gap," the distance between what people are made to know about environmental risk and what they are enabled to do about it, and identifies the institutional practices that widen it, including fear-based messaging, symbolic policy, and the transfer of systemic responsibility onto individual consumers. It proposes a six-pillar response framework (validate, inform, connect, prepare, participate, transform) with recommendations weighted toward the institutions closest to where distress forms: schools, municipalities, public health agencies, and senior governments.
Funded by: In-Kind
The Packaging EPR Library
An open-access reference resource documenting extended producer responsibility systems for packaging and printed paper worldwide. The library features 46 evidence-reviewed articles across nine themes: Foundations, Design and Governance, Scope and Obligations, Fees and Economics, Eco-modulation and Design, Performance and Measurement, EPR in the Policy Mix, the Jurisdictional Landscape, and Politics, Evidence and the Future. An interactive world map allows users to explore the design and performance of every packaging EPR program in the world by jurisdiction.
The library is written for policymakers and regulators designing or overseeing schemes, producers managing compliance obligations, municipalities negotiating service transfers, researchers, journalists, and advocates across the policy spectrum. It follows a simple editorial rule: follow the evidence, and say plainly where the evidence runs out. Each article distinguishes empirical findings from claims and identifies knowledge gaps rather than adopting a policy position. Visit:
Funded by: In-Kind
The Packaging Label Atlas
An independent research library documenting packaging sustainability labelling rules, symbols, claims, and effectiveness evidence across global jurisdictions. As recyclability labelling requirements proliferate, from France's Triman to California's SB 343 and Canada's proposed labelling rules, producers face a fragmented and often contradictory landscape, and consumers face a growing number of symbols with inconsistent meanings.
The Atlas organizes this landscape into six research areas: orientation, market-specific rules, label meanings, claims and enforcement, and effectiveness evidence. It includes an interactive global map distinguishing mandatory regulations from voluntary schemes and pending proposals, detailed jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction articles with sourced information and verification dates, and a synthesis of the research on how labels actually influence consumer comprehension, disposal behaviour, and purchasing decisions. Visit:
Funded by: In-Kind
Textile Circularity Action Plan
In partnership with Fashion Takes Action and Diabetes Canada, we are creating a nationwide action plan to promote textile circularity and reduce waste in the fashion industry. We also produce ongoing life cycle and diversion reporting for the National Diabetes Trust's textile and household goods collection program.
Funded by: Diabetes Canada
Life Cycle Analysis for Product Packaging
We are developing an expanded life cycle analysis framework to better evaluate the environmental, social, and economic merits of various types of product packaging. The framework is now being applied in adjacent sectors, including energy-curable coatings and fresh produce packaging.
Funded by: Club Coffee, Polytainers, OFI International