The Clean50 Top Projects annually recognize those projects completed in the prior two years based on their innovation, their ability to inform, and inspire other Canadians. The Top Project of the year is then selected each year at the Clean50 Summit, from votes cast by both incoming and Alumni members of the Clean50.
Dog waste, while it is a small price to pay for the glory that is dogs, is a stinky reality. It collects and overflows in garbage receptacles in parks everywhere. This collection method attracts flies, detracts from park…
It’s never as simple as farm to table. The business of growing food to feed Canadians and to export to global markets generates waste materials that require special techniques for safe management and diversion from landfills. Cleanfarms is…
CN’s EcoConnexions From the Ground Up program was launched in 2012 to promote environmental sustainability through the greening of communities, including Indigenous communities, along their rail network in Canada and the United States. Working together with their partners,…
“Reduce, Reuse, Reimage” might be a fine motto for Compugen Finance who have made diverting some of the 44.7 million metric tonnes of E-waste that currently end up in landfill their mission. To get a sense of the…
Dextran Products, a Toronto-based pharmaceutical manufacturer, was looking to slash their water use in order to save money, comply with municipal programs, and become a more socially-responsible company. With the assistance of the Toronto Regional Conservation Area’s Partners…
In 2013 the Ecology Action Centre (EAC) found themselves with what is, in many ways, a happy problem — they needed more space to accommodate their growing number of staff and volunteers — and for which they found…
The road to Road to Context is easier than it might seem. Several of the corporate members of the Embedding Project — a long-term partnership hosted at the Beedie School of Business at Simon Fraser University involving dozens…
Science tells us that expanding our use of fossil fuels is bad for humanity and the ecosystem. While alternative solutions exist, they’re often more expensive (for now) as technology evolves, and so new home and condominium construction continues…
At the core of the success of General Motors Landfill-Free Project at GM Oshawa Assembly Plant initiative lies the fact that the “team” for this project numbers approximately 3,000. Lead by Sr. Environmental Engineer, Douglas Sirrs, it was…
Engaging the services of a consultant can seem like a risky investment for a business. Paying for ideas is seldom an attractive prospect, especially when there are nuts and bolts projects calling out for cash. However, as the…
Anyone who, faced with a few large energy bills or concerned about their carbon footprint, has found themselves squinting at a crumpled, half-faded manual trying to reprogram their thermostat, can relate on some level to the problem faced…
In 2013, while the Town of Gibsons, BC was in the process of inventorying its existing assets — determining their state and value, and preparing asset management plans to maintain or replace the assets in an effort to…
Addressing sustainability challenges can make unlikely bedfellows. Yet if messy, complex sustainability issues, such as climate change, deforestation, and fisheries management are to be tackled, organizations far more comfortable competing must sometimes learn to collaborate. Simply managing one’s…
In 2015 Plug’n Drive conducted a secret shopper study that uncovered some of the reasons why electric vehicle (EV) sales at the dealers were less than they ought to be be. The results of that study showed that…
In a sense we are just past the dawn of a new Gold Rush. There is (literally) gold in them thar hills of E-waste we produce, along with silver, platinum and palladium, but the technology currently used for…
It’s difficult to visit the well-treed site of Trinity College School in Port Hope Ontario and not consider the environment. One of Canada’s oldest schools, established in 1865, TCS has all the Hogwarts-esque stone and ivy trimmings of…
For more than 15 years, the Ville de Montréal has taken a “Together for a sustainable metropolis” approach, believing that the sustainable development they aspire to can only be achieved when all stakeholders are involved. Basically, the thinking…
For more than 15 years, the Ville de Montréal has taken a “Together for a sustainable metropolis” approach, believing that the sustainable development they aspire to can only be achieved when all stakeholders are involved. Basically, the thinking…
Using that now iconic building block of urban life, the milk crate, Bowery Project engages communities in transforming vacant lots into productive, literally blossoming spaces.Their mobile urban farm model — all the food is grown in the crates,…
Approximately forty percent of the food we produce in Canada is wasted; 18% of this is lost in manufacturing. Food loss + waste is a $6 billion opportunity for Canada’s food and beverage manufacturing sector. The ability of…
The development of the Zero Carbon Building Standard was driven by the desire of the Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC) to ensure that the Canadian real estate industry could meet its obligations to limit the threat of climate…
Canadian Tire Distribution Centres located primarily in Brampton, Ontario overhauled a facility designed to sort and recycle damaged products from the supply chain and reverse flow processes. The overall objective of the project was to implement streams to…
There can be a lot in a name and the fact that the solar power project model chosen by the City of Nelson, in the Kootenay Region of British Columbia is called a “Community Solar Garden” tells you…
In an ever-urbanizing watershed, the impact of development can be reduced by restoring wildlife habitat and increasing biodiversity, but going natural isn’t going to happen on its own. Credit Valley Conservation (CVC) created the Greening Corporate Grounds (GCG)…
Most green enterprises face the already daunting task of claiming their share of an emerging market, but over at Entomo Farms they’re working to build their market from near-scratch. Simply put, you have to ask a lot of…
It’s difficult to place a value on parents, having lost or been forced to leave everything, being given the opportunity to pick out a bed and perhaps a small desk for their child before he starts at a…
In their own words “Just Vertical is leading the charge on bringing food production back to cities with our indoor vertical farms which grow 3 weeks faster than field agriculture using up to 99% less water and no…
What Mesh Exchange CEO, Co-Founder Jessica Pautsch did with her food recovery platform is take the old maxim “Waste not, want not” straight into the 21st Century. After all, if technology can get that guy at the office…
It takes a certain vision, some would say madness, to decide that, when time is of the essence, the best way forward is to get a number of vastly disparate parties together and provide the forum for them…
In the fall of 2015, the Village Council of Northern Village of Green Lake, Saskatchewan chose a delegation to attend the First Nations Energy Forum, in Saskatoon in order to investigate the potential of developing a renewable energy…
Moving house is always stressful but few of us will ever face the very literal sort of house moving challenge The Solar Design Team at Queen’s University overcame constructing the Queen’s Solar Education Centre (QSEC). In 2013, The…
Resolute Forest Products – Vegetable Greenhouse using Waste Heat & Carbon Turning waste heat and carbon into 45 million cucumbers The Toundra Greenhouse project is a story of economic development meets carbon footprint reduction. It’s the kind of…
Net Zero Affordable Townhomes for Large Families It began when the congregation of Edmonton’s Westmount Presbyterian Church took a long hard look their core values and mission and a briefer look at the long term costs of maintaining…
Vancity Waste Heat Recovery Project by SES Project payback of 22% per annum also cuts gas use by 97% and GhG emmissions by 75% In the beginning, the Vancity Credit Union head office on Terminal Avenue in Vancouver…
Save using Solar – But cut your energy use first! The lesson Southbrook Vineyards and Enviro-Stewards would like to give you is “Don’t waste your energy more efficiently!” When North Americans think of green energy, they typically think…
The way Kent Rathwell, CEO and Founder of Sun Country Organics and past Clean16 Honouree sees it, the key to making sustainability practices the norm is to implement them in a practical manner. People need to see and…
Taking the Washing out of GreenWashing Increasingly words like “earth-friendly” and “green” are pasted onto to just about anything like so many brightly coloured stickers onto fruit. The prefixes “enviro” and “eco” are tossed about like disposable stir…
Experimental / Experiential Solar Charging Station Project spawn knock-offs on 3 continents! The original goal of York University’s Free Solar Charging for Electric Vehicles project, led by Professor José Etcheverry, was to design and build a photovoltaic solar…
If the Toronto Dominion Centre was a city, with 21,000 permanent residents and 50,000 visitors each day, it would be a large one! Six skyscrapers spread over 6 acres. And no one in Canada has ever pursued a…
Initially proposed by the McMaster Sustainability Office and the McMaster Students Union, the idea of a bike share system in Hamilton was pitched to Peter, Project Manager, Sustainable Mobility Programs with the City of Hamilton, for a student…
