1. Managing Municipal Biowaste: Policies, Programs, and Technologies
As cities and towns strive to meet sustainable development, zero-waste, and greenhouse gas mitigation goals and benchmarks, many have adopted waste management policies requiring separation of organic waste (or biowaste), such as food waste and yard debris, in order to divert it from landfill where it produces methane. While curbside collection programs are increasing available to manage residential waste, commercial or industrial biowaste (for example, from resturants or breweries) is not always collected. Once collected, biowaste tends to be managed via composting and/or anerobic digestion and biogas production. In some cases, the compost is then used in agricultural production, thus contributing to the 'circular economy'. Large-scale municipal composting programs are also often complemented by small-scale composting efforts (for example, in community gardens and schools). The goal of this project is to develop and contribute to a database of documents related to municipal biowaste (organic waste) management policies, programs, practices, and facilities across Canada and in select cities worldwide in order to better understand the scope, scale, and diversity of biowaste management underway. A subset of Canadian cities and cities worldwide will be selected with the eventual goal of developing comparative case studies to better understand the development of their biowaste policies and programs, the choice of technologies, end use of recycled waste, the various actors involved, and the decison-making processes at play.
Research area, student roles & skills
Research area: Professor McClintock is a geographer working in the field of critical urban studies and urban political ecology with a focus on urban environmental politics and transformation. He has extensively researched urban agriculture and food systems, soil contamination, organic waste management, green gentrification, and the political economy of sustainable development. He is particularly interested in how formal governance (policies, planning, and regulation), social movements, and everyday practices come into conflict and ultimately shape urban environments. Questions of equity and environmental justice are central to his work.
Student roles:
The student will first work with the professor to develop an Excel spreadsheet and digital repository (using Zotero), which they will then contribute to over the course of the internship by identifying, locating, and reviewing documents (eg, grey literature such as government and NGO reports) and municipal and industry websites reslated to municipal biowaste management policies, practices, and programs across Canada and in select cities worldwide. Students will also review elevant news media and existing academic literature related to a select number of specific case studies. Students with an interest or background in history will also conduct exploratory archival research to identify relevant historical policy documents and news articles.
Skills required:
Students should have an interest in urban and regional planning, bioresource engineering, environmental policy, environmental studies, geography, urban history, or sustainable development. An interest in waste, waste management, energy transitions, climate change adaptation, food systems, composting, or the circular economy is especially desired.
The student must be able to speak and comprehend both English and French, and be able to conduct online research (municipal web pages and news media archives) and read grey literature (government and NGO reports) and academic articles in one or both languages. Experience conducting archival research and/or literature reviews is desireable but not mandatory.