Funded Research Projects

While there is a myriad of ecolabels, most in the tourism sector lack rigor, transparency and standardization. This project therefore aims to study how modularity and eco-efficiency can contribute to the development of measurable ecolabels and circular tourism.

Firstly, the research will operationalize a multidimensional conceptual model using scientific assessment tools to identify opportunities for source reduction as a circular strategy. The concept of modularity seeks to break down complex systems into modules to provide a framework to assess their composition and interdependencies. The approach will support a performance analysis of the tourism system in all its complexity. A case study of a Québec outfitter will make it possible to apply the model and characterize activities to collect primary and secondary data to explore eco-efficient alternatives.

Secondly, the project will develop eco-efficiency indicators based on the principles of modularity by assimilating the carrying capacities in tourism. Following a literature review of load capacities, multicriteria analysis will be used to evaluate the impacts of the scenarios.

Finally, the third objective is to create a framework and guide to implement a type III ecolabel in the tourism sector.  

Bécancour’s industrial park and port are home to 11 industrial enterprises and more than 15 service companies. Collectively, they use a number of energy sources for their industrial processes and heating. Some also generate energy locally as a main product or co-product. It is possible to decarbonize this energy consumption through various circular economy strategies, including process optimization and the local reuse of waste heat, as well as the establishment of local energy co-product exchanges and joint infrastructures for co-product sharing.

Rooted in industrial ecology, the strategy involves the identification and implementation of industrial synergies within a park, territory or region to spark a culture of industrial by-product recovery, collaboration and resource sharing within industrial symbioses. The technical and economic analysis and eventual optimization of the options to implement the opportunities require a more comprehensive view of the networking possibilities for local stakeholders and a more local perspective to ensure stakeholders’ long-term participation. In the case of industrial synergies involving pooling or joint investments, the participation of all stakeholders is required.

The overarching objective is two-fold. The first is scientific and relates to the development of a mixed integer linear programming model to optimize the opportunities for synergies and industrial networking within an industrial park. The second is practical and relates to the realization of a technical and economic study of the opportunities to decarbonize the energy sources used in Bécancour’s industrial park and port.

As the electrification of devices intensifies, the cumulative global manufacturing of lithium ion (Li-ion) battery cells could increase by fivefold by 2030. At the end of their service life, the batteries may be recovered or become toxic waste. North America therefore has a unique opportunity to secure and build a resilient supply chain based on circular principles. The region has the potential to play a leadership role in the extraction, manufacturing and recovery of critical minerals for Li-ion batteries, including rare minerals and those in short supply (e.g., lithium).

As the geopolitics of Li-ion batteries emerge, the project aims to determine a strategic plan for a regional supply system based on the circular economy. More specifically, it seeks to:

1. Estimate the strengths, opportunities, vulnerabilities and risks of the current Li-ion battery supply chain in North America and among its international suppliers.
2. Conceptualize and map the regional Li-ion battery infrastructure.
3. Model the impact of implementing circular strategies.
4. Identify investment opportunities.

The growing interest in the circular economy (CE) as a response to the requirements of sustainable development raises many questions about the transformations CE will bring about, particularly in the labour market.

The research therefore aims to describe, categorize and assess the quality of core circular jobs in SEEs.

There are two types of circular jobs: core jobs and enabling jobs. This study focuses on core jobs, which sustain material loops and constitute the pillars of the CE. It is essential to understand their characteristics and ensure their quality upstream of eventual mutations. For that reason, the research will also consider the social and solidarity economy, which brings together organizations and businesses whose objective is to promote social well-being.

This project is led within the context of the latest report by the Bureau d'audiences publiques sur l'environnement, entitled L'état des lieux et la gestion des résidus ultimes, which identifies circular economy as the first strategy to implement to reduce ultimate waste in Québec.

Based on an approach rooted in urban geography and political science, it aims to develop operationalizable tools for the design and implementation of area circular economy initiatives by local and regional governments. With these tools, cities will not only be able to identify optimal areas of excellence adapted to their particular territorial contexts but also target public interventions (e.g., zoning) to create conditions conducive to the circularity initiatives they seek to set in motion.

The project explores the key question of the processes, policies and instruments that could enable cities and regions to design and deploy circular economy policies tailored to their spatial and socio-economic contexts.

The project aims to study different ways of thinking about cooperation in Québec and Canada (which are far from being circular but still have a strong tradition of social economy) in an effort to shed new light on the challenge.

Three variants of cooperation that are similar and different in their own ways and important in the Québec context will be explored: cooperatives and the cooperative movement, the tree of cooperation and First Nations, common goods and degrowth.

The project aims to develop a new way to recover liquid digestates from methanization by producing microalgae as a solution to reduce the cost of the feeding regime used to rear black soldier fly larvae, as well as the cost to dispose of the waters.  

The proposed approach is to have a microalgae culture use the liquid digestates from methanization and then set out a feeding regime of microalgae and solid digestates.

What separates this proposal from others is the fact that it interweaves a circular innovation project in an emerging circular economy loop. The innovation lies in the development of a less costly feeding regime to rear black soldier fly larvae whose main component is the production of microalgae from liquid digestate from methanization (a waste).

This new approach to liquid digestate management and the production of edible and decomposer insects fits seamlessly into the circular economies of several cities and regions across Québec and around the world.

The project examines the CE vision, governance and practices at a municipal level.

It focuses on three key CE sectors: food, energy (including transportation) and waste (Keblowski et al 2020). Two key research issues are raised:

1. How do stakeholders understand CE as a concept and what is their understanding of CE practices and assessment in a city and region like Victoriaville?
2. How is CE governed and practiced by different political and social stakeholders?

The questions will be explored from the perspectives of the concepts of the socio-technological vision and the governance of the socioecological transition.

The project aims to identify and acknowledge the democratic and participatory governance models and mechanisms of social economy enterprises (SEEs) that are conducive to sustainability in a circular economy.

Very few empirical studies have focused on the contributions, conditions and modalities of democratic, participatory and inclusive governance as a lever for the implementation of circular systems. Yet, the research conducted over the past few years by Territoires innnovants en économie sociale et solidaire (TIESS) on circular business models in a social economy has increasingly emphasized the need to better understand the democratic and participatory governance models that are at work.

The project is part of an initiative led by TIESS for the past five years and aims to position and deploy the social economy as a partner in a sustainable circular economy. The four team members are also contributing to an international research network on the social economy and circular economy that is currently under development at the initiative of two of the team’s researchers.