While there has been a significant amount of focus on the plastic that ends up in our oceans, we also need to consider the amount of plastic pollution that’s entering our freshwater. This session will explore the current challenges and potential opportunities associated with managing plastic pollution in Canada’s freshwater. During the discussion, we will consider how plastics are currently regulated in Canada, what opportunities there are for improvement, the implications for municipalities, and what technology companies can do to support municipalities.
Register NOW: https://www.crowdcast.io/e/betacklingplastics
Speakers include:
John D. Coyne (Principal of Circularfuture365 and Executive Chair of the Canadian Stewardship Services Alliance, Inc.): Coyne is well known for his leadership in corporate sustainability. He promotes ESG, circular economy, and climate-related initiatives as essential features of corporate strategy. Currently, Coyne is executive chair of the Board of Canadian Stewardship Services Alliance, Inc. and is a director of Evergreen. He is also the co-chair of the Partners in Project Green steering committee, a collaborative environmental initiative run by the Toronto Region Conservation Authority. For more than a decade, John was a passionate activator of the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan and the Compass, Unilever’s strategy to grow the business, reduce its environmental footprint, and increase its positive contribution to society. John was also one of the founding Co-Chairs of the Circular Economy Leadership Coalition (CELC), which was launched in 2018 to accelerate Canada’s transition to a circular economy. Coyne has been recognized for his leadership in corporate sustainability by being named a Clean 50 honouree in 2013 and a Clean 16 honouree in 2018. In 2018, Coyne received the Canadian General Counsel Award for Environmental, Social, and Governance Leadership. In addition, in 2018, John was appointed to the federal Plastics Advisory group advising Canada’s Minister of the Environment and Climate Change on issues relating to plastics and the implementation of the Ocean Plastics Charter.
Christopher Hilkene (CEO of Pollution Probe): Hilkene is the chief executive officer of Pollution Probe. He has been an environment and sustainable development professional for over 20 years. Known more generally for his public policy and communications experience, he is recognized as a leader in freshwater policy and Great Lakes issues. A Canadian appointee to Great Lakes Water Quality Board of the International Joint Commission (IJC), Chris has served as the Canadian Lead on emerging issues for the last four years. In 2007, Chris was appointed to the National Roundtable on the Environment and the Economy, where he served as Chair of the Water Programme. He is an active volunteer and has served on boards and advisory bodies for numerous organizations including Ryerson University, Pollution Probe, WaterAid Canada, Carleton University’s Global Water Institute, the City of Toronto’s Task Force to Bring Back the Don, Green Living Enterprises, the Vimy Foundation, and the George and Helen Vari Foundation.
Jesse Vermaire (Associate Professor at Carleton University): Vermaire is interested in how environmental change, particularly land-use and climate change are impacting freshwater ecosystems. His research focuses on three broad areas: 1) impacts of climate warming and nutrient enrichment on lakes and streams, 2) ecosystem resilience, regime shifts, and recovery in freshwater systems, and 3) the importance of extreme events (e.g. droughts, storm surges, permafrost slumps) in altering aquatic ecosystems. Because changes to the environment often occur over large areas and at timescales of decades or longer, Vermaire’s lab employs a variety of techniques including lake survey studies, paleolimnological techniques, and the analysis of long-term datasets to meet our research objectives.
Anna Posacka (Chief Scientific Officer at Ocean Diagnostics Inc.): Posacka is a plastic pollution researcher and Chief Scientific Officer at Ocean Diagnostics Inc (ODI) based in Victoria, British Columbia. She leads the analytical laboratory dedicated to supporting different stakeholders in addressing challenges related to plastic and microplastic pollution. Before, she led a multi-disciplinary research laboratory at a conservation organization Ocean Wise, where she partnered with regulators, apparel industry, government agencies, and academia on a variety of scientific projects to inform solutions to plastics and microplastics. By studying microplastics from material sources to end of life, Posacka has gained insight into the various solutions to the problem as well as barriers to their implementation. Her research and expertise contributed to science and solution recommendations for plastics, including the Canada Plastics Science Agenda. Posacka holds a doctorate in Oceanography from the University of British Columbia and a masters degree in Applied Marine Sciences from University of Plymouth, UK.
Suja Sukumaran (Senior Applications Scientist at Thermo Fisher Scientific): Dr. Suja Sukumaran is a senior applications scientist at Thermo Fisher Scientific. She holds a PhD in Biophysics from Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, Germany. Sukumaran is also a co-inventor of U.S. patents on ‘MspA Nanopores and related methods’ licensed to Illumina Inc. She has experience and expertise in Molecular Spectroscopy, visible and fluorescence imaging, and protein and lipid biochemistry. Her current research interests include using AI for protein folding, microplastics, and recycling.
Corinne Lynds (Content Director at Actual Media): With more than two decades of experience leading B2B editorial teams and content strategy on the agency side, Lynds is passionate about humanizing highly technical stories across Actual Media’s print, digital, and experiential platforms. She is responsible for managing all of Actual Media’s editorial and content operations across the infrastructure, water, and environment sectors. Lynds is a compulsive storyteller who knows how to engage business audiences.