University of Regina Waste Management Project Recognized at the Global Scale

We would like to congratulate Dr. Kelvin Ng, Professor of Environmental Systems Engineering at the University of Regina, who received global recognition for his work in waste management! His project “Municipal solid waste recycling and disposal behaviors in a mid-sized Canadian city during a global pandemic” received the award for Honourable Mention Project at the 2024 Regional Centre of Expertise (RCE) Awards for Innovative Projects on Education for Sustainable Development.

The project addressed local sustainable development challenges around waste management, incorporating topics across sustainable development goals (SDGs) 3, 6, 11, and 12. Dr. Ng’s work included multi-stakeholder learning via policy dialogue, research, and collaborative partnerships.

Dr. Ng provided the following summary of this work:

The COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdowns had significant effects on solid waste management. Globally, the COVID-19 pandemic altered both the amount and composition of solid waste. Throughout the pandemic, behavioral changes of waste generators and the government-imposed administrative measures led to variations in waste collection, waste processing, and waste disposal. However, the effects of COVID-19 on waste generation and disposal behaviors were not consistent globally, and often varied according to differences in geographic locations, socio-economic conditions, and governmental administrative measures. These inconsistencies have hindered us to prepare for the potential next pandemic or disaster. The goal of the present study was to examine municipal solid waste generation characteristics and recycling trends during the COVID lockdowns. The ultimate project goal was to develop a data-driven analytical framework to establish evidence-based waste policies before, during, and after a global pandemic. The study area focused on Regina, Saskatchewan (Canada). The city has a population of about 215,000 with a population density of nearly 2,100 cap/km2. Following the outbreak in March 2020, the city reported on March 12th, 2020, its first confirmed case. Between March 18th, 2020, and October 20th, 2021, an average of 187.11 hospitalized COVID-19 cases were reported weekly in the Regina zone. The Regina landfill has been serving all the nearby communities since 1961 and has an active groundwater monitoring program and a landfill gas management. The work involved the development of 3 published articles and seeks to support evidence-based waste policy to prepare us for possible future pandemics.

We are excited to see Dr. Ng’s contributions to waste management and sustainability receiving recognition at this scale! The project was elected by the Saskatchewan RCE as a flagship project on January 24th, 2024. Results of the Global Awards were announced on December 2nd, 2024.

Congratulations to Dr. Ng for this truly outstanding achievement!