BOOSTING INDUSTRIAL SYMBIOSIS FOR CIRCULAR REGIONS

With their futures at stake, university and college students are driving learning leaders to strengthen the role of higher education in sustainability.   Many of the 4 million people who took part in the September 2019 youth-led climate strikes are now college-age. A 2021 Deloitte survey also showed that climate change and protecting the environment was the top priority for Gen Z.  Clearly, commitments to protect the planet have become table stakes for students. Indeed, 75% of students say that a college’s environmental commitment would influence their choice of school, according to a survey conducted by the Princeton Review.  But it’s not just students who are leading the charge. Climate action has become critical for governments globally: At COP26, the 2021 UN climate change conference held in Glasgow, 137 countries agreed to reverse forest loss, and 190 countries agreed to phase out coal power. Addressing environmental sustainability puts higher learning institutions ahead of the curve regarding regulatory pressures. 

As the world accelerates its transition to a low-carbon, circular economy, Canadian companies developing resource recovery models need to consider how to integrate IP protection into their overall strategic plan to succeed in this increasingly competitive global market. C-level executives must consider the strategic business role of IP and understand how to build an effective IP strategy in the context of the infrastructure they are operating in and appropriate to the technological solutions they offer. Companies focused on resource recovery also face a long trajectory to commercialization, which demands a forward-looking IP strategy.

In an effort to identify plastic accumulation and leakage hotspots along the Ganges river, a recent project in three north Indian cities found that roughly 10%-25% of all the plastic waste generated was littered and was not routed into recycling or appropriate waste disposal channels. This litter, which is either generated in or accumulates in the different cities’ hotspots is a major source of plastic leaking into the riverine system in the area, especially during the rainy season. Much of the litter was multilayer plastic packaging, disposable bottles and cutlery, nylon sacks, and polythene bags.