< Previousfrom more than 100 diff erent Indigenous communities in Canada. What makes your organization unique? PLT is able to have a signifi cant impact because of the scale and reach of our diverse network. Be it through SFI-certifi ed organizations, educators, Indigenous communities, youth, conservation organizations, and more, we are able to reach a variety of audiences and fi nd collaboration opportunities to co-create positive change and advance nature-based solutions. How do you feel your organization makes the world better? We believe that sustainably-managed forests are critical to our collective future. From climate change to water quality to biodiversity, well-managed forests provide viable solutions to many of the world’s most important sustainability challenges. We advance sustainability and nature-based solutions through forest-focused collaborations, specifi cally promoting forest literacy. As well, we provide educators, parents, and com- munity leaders with educational resources to help develop students’ awareness, knowledge, and appreci- ation of the environment; build their skills and ability to make informed decisions; and encourage them to take personal responsibility for sustaining the environ- ment and our quality of life that depends on it. Th rough these resources, we engage diverse youth in learning about exciting and rewarding green career pathways that support nature-based solutions for a more sustainable planet. As they get older and begin considering possible jobs, they can explore our skills development resources, grow their network with our Students from the Hardy School in Washington, DC learn how to monitor a forest’s condition. SINCE , PLT HAS REACHED MILLION STUDENTS AND TRAINED , EDUCATORS TO HELP STUDENTS LEARN HOW TO THINK, NOT WHAT TO THINK ABOUT COMPLEX ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES. 30 MAKE THE WORLD BETTER MAGAZINEmentorship programs, and potentially land their fi rst work experience. Tell us about your organization's goals. PLT’s goal is to advance environmental literacy, stewardship, and career pathways using trees and forests as windows to the world. Are there any upcoming initiatives or projects you'd like to share? SFI and PLT are working in partnership with Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources and Related Sciences (MANRRS) to ensure greater opportunities for rewarding careers in the forest and conservation sector for young Black Americans. Th is will include skills training resources and a mentorship program, as well as Black Faces in Green Spaces: Th e Journeys of Black Professionals in Green Careers, which tells the stories of Black Americans who have taken this career path and have advice and resources to share. You can learn more here and sign up to be the fi rst to hear about the guide’s release! What do you most want people to know about your organization? PLT aims to develop a lifetime of learning to create a forest-literate society. It’s critical that we learn and value the benefi ts that sustainably- managed forests have on the environment, our communities, and the economy. Educators, parents, and community leaders can use PLT resources to build forest literacy while engaging students and growing the next generation of environmental stewards. Plus, as youth grow up, they may be inspired to pursue a green career pathway and will have the resources and support to get there. PLT’s lifetime of learning helps grow future forest and conservation leaders and ensures our forests are kept sustainable over the long term. How can people help or contribute to your organization's mission? Get involved with one of our programs! Learn more about PLT in your own region: attend a PLT training session for educators, hire a green jobs youth, become a mentor or encourage a young professional to sign up to become a mentee, and/or access great resources to get your family and friends outdoors. We also accept donations to Canadian and US programs. Mentees and mentors posing for a group photo during the 2022 SFI/PLT Annual Conference. Activity sheets and supplies needed to conduct PLT’s monitoring forest condition worksheets. forests.org/education facebook.com/SustainableForestryInitiative twitter.com/sfiprogram linkedin.com/company/ sustainable-forestry-initiative youtube.com/user/SFIProgram SEP 2022 • ISSUE 03 31Tell us about your organization's mission. EcoMeter is a community-based resource hub that highlights the most sustain- able restaurants in Metro Vancouver. We make it easy for consumers to make better dining choices by supporting eco-minded businesses. As well, we help connect restaurants that want to make a positive change to industry partners with the expertise to help them. What inspired you to start your organization? EcoMeter was the 2021 winning concept of the inaugural Brand Battle for Good, a zero-waste conference followed by an accelerated ideation and pitch com- petition. Our original inspiration was the compulsory restaurant health code ratings in New York City, where every establishment must display their rating from A – B – C based on their health inspection. We took this concept and applied to it a lens of sustainability and community support to ask, how can we educate consumers on the best places to eat that are mindful of their carbon “food” print? What were some of the challenges you encountered? When we started, none of our team members knew much about the food waste and packaging industry when it came to restaurant orders. Th at led us to consult and collaborate with some key partners who had been in the space much longer – industry partners like Ocean Wise, ShareWares, and Vancouver Food Runners gave us valuable advice that helped pivot our concept as it matured. We’ve learned to dream big and to listen to the experts in the fi eld. What do you consider your organization's biggest success? Our website, eco-meter.ca, offi cially launched in May 2022, just 12 months after the concept was born at the Brand Battle for Good. A lot of research was distilled into the four key categories that make up our restaurant grading sys- tem: food waste, supply chain, take-out packaging, and community initiatives. Already, more than 500 Metro Vancouver food establishments are listed on eco-me- ter.ca, so it feels great to spotlight these green-leading restaurants to consumers who care. What makes your organization unique? EcoMeter addresses the elephant in the room when we’re talking about HELPING VANCOUVERITES EAT SUSTAINABLY ONE TAKE OUT MEAL AT A TIME There’s no doubt that the advent of take-out apps has furthered the convenience of at-home dining, especially during the pandemic. While the benefits are clear, the amount of wasteful packaging that’s often used can make us lose our appetites. EcoMeter, the 2021 winner of Brands for Better’s Brand Battle for Good competition, is helping Vancouver consumers find sustainable restaurants and restaurants find sustainable partners. We spoke with Jill Robinson, Project Manager at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of British Columbia and EcoMeter Project Co-lead, about this volunteer-led sustainable restaurant guide. Supply chains are a factor on the EcoMeter, which considers the entire food experience from farm (or ocean) to fork. Take-out packaging is a factor on the EcoMeter, and many restaurants have adopted ways to reduce single-use waste. EcoMeter Photo credit: Missy Shana 32 MAKE THE WORLD BETTER MAGAZINEFood waste, take-out packaging, supply chain, and community initiatives aff ect a restaurant's EcoMeter rating. dining out or getting take-out. We’re experiencing a climate emergency, and local governments are stepping up measures to curb food waste and reduce single-use items. It’s a lot to consider when you just want to get some lunch before carrying on with your day, so we designed EcoMeter to highlight the food establishments that have adopted environmentally-progressive practices to make the decision-making process easier for consumers. Th e restaurant owners that we’ve connected with are extremely proud of their eco-friendly initiatives, and that sentiment gave us a lot of en- couragement to see this project through. How do you feel your organization makes the world better? Th ese days, everyone is ordering food from apps like DoorDash and Uber Eats – a number that has grown exponentially during the pandemic – but many of us aren’t thinking in terms of our carbon footprint when we choose the conve- nience of ordering from or experiencing a restaurant. We believe that knowing the impact of everything that goes into a meal will help us make better choic- es. EcoMeter exists to shine a light and educate our local community. Tell us about your organization's goals. We’re pushing back against the sobering statistics. According to the National Zero Waste Council, CA$49 billion worth of food is sent to landfi ll or composted each year in Canada, and in Vancouver alone, 82 million single-use cups and 103 million single-use utensils were thrown in the garbage in 2018, according to the City of Vancouver. EcoMeter strives to change consumer behaviour and lower the carbon footprint of restaurants. We want to align with the City of Vancouver’s Zero Waste 2040 plan and help to create the greenest city in the world. Are there any upcoming initiatives or projects you'd like to share? We are openly exploring next steps to allow this project to blossom into its full potential as a driver of change. Conceivably, we could hand off this opportunity to an organization with an aligned mission and dedicated resources to harness the scalability and promise of the EcoMeter platform. Our team is so proud of what we’ve built, and it's remarkable that it was all done through volunteers’ eff orts. We will be looking for a partner with a similar passion. What do you most want people to know about your organization? We truly think that education can empower and ripple change throughout the industry. Th e facts of climate change and huge amounts of waste around the globe are both sobering and inevitable; however, EcoMeter is a resource for our community to make a positive and preventative change to support businesses that give a damn. We are privileged to work, live, and play on the ancestral and unceded Coast Salish territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh nations (commonly known as Vancouver), and we need to take care of this land for generations to come. How can people help or contribute to your organization's mission? Visit eco-meter.ca to discover your next favourite restaurant and so many others that are taking steps to be more sus- tainable. Tag @ecometer on Instagram when you eat at a restaurant you found on our website. And when you spot the EcoMeter decal – a leaf pointer on a four-level scale – displayed on the windows and doors of a participat- ing restaurant, let the owners know that you appreciate their eff orts to be more sustainable. eco-meter.ca facebook.com/ecometer.van instagram.com/ecometer linkedin.com/company/ ecometer-vancouver CA BILLION WORTH OF FOOD IS SENT TO LANDFILL OR COMPOSTED EACH YEAR IN CANADA, AND IN VANCOUVER ALONE, MILLION SINGLEUSE CUPS AND MILLION SINGLE USE UTENSILS WERE THROWN IN THE GARBAGE IN . SEP 2022 • ISSUE 03 33WHY WE MUST GO CIRCULAR CANADA IS THE WORLD’S #1 PRODUCER OF WASTE PER CAPITA. Statista 2022 34 MAKE THE WORLD BETTER MAGAZINESEP 2022 • ISSUE 03 35Landfills often seem like a necessary evil as a result of our consumption of everyday products. But what if there was a way to reclaim waste from landfills and natural biomass waste and use it to power our lives? Over the past 20 years, Montréal- headquartered Enerkem has developed and commercialized a unique chemical recycling technology to produce ad- vanced biofuels and circular chemicals from non-recyclable waste and resi- dues of forest biomass. We spoke with Valerie Gonzalo, Public Relations and Communications Consultant, to learn more about this disruptive clean technology company. USING EVERYDAY WASTE TO POWER OUR LIVES Enerkem, whose head offi ce is in Montréal, was established in 2000. Today it employs some 235 full-time employees and many external collaborators. Enerkem 36 MAKE THE WORLD BETTER MAGAZINEMore than 1.3 billion metric tons of municipal solid waste is generated around the world every year. Enerkem’s technology provides a sustainable waste management solution which is complementary to recycling and composting. Tell us about your organization's mission. Our mission is to establish Enerkem as a world- class provider of disruptive clean technology to enable the production of biofuel and circular chemicals from waste that cannot be recuper- ated or recycled. In this way, Enerkem off ers an innovative, sustainable solution for waste management, energy diversifi cation, and the implementation of a circular economy. What inspired your founders to start your organization? Enerkem’s breakthrough technology was initially inspired by the research and development led by Dr. Esteban Chornet, Professor Emeritus at the Université de Sherbrooke in Québec. In the 1940s, Esteban’s father ran sawmills in Mallorca, Spain; the country was then emerging from a long civil war with little access to energy sources. Th e electricity needed to power the sawmills was produced mainly from sawdust, using a rudi- mentary biomass gasifi cation process. Th is was developed into what has now become Enerkem’s unique technology. What were some of the challenges your founders encountered? Two of the most important challenges we faced were fi nancing our operations and adapting our technology to market requirements. We have met both with great success. To support our development, we have raised over CA$1 billion in mostly private funding since 2000. Th e list of our investors includes major businesses and organizations, such as Suncor, Repsol, Rho, Braemar, Monarch Alternative Capital, and Avenue Capital Group, to name but a few. Since our foundation, we have devoted great eff orts to adapt our technology to the needs of the market. We have tested and validated several diff erent feedstocks, from solid waste coming from several municipalities to dozens of other types of residues such as forest biomass. Our technology was rigorously scaled up from pilot to demonstration to commercial stage during a period of over 10 years of disciplined eff orts. We clearly succeeded as evidenced by the fact that we are now involved in major industrial projects here and abroad. What do you consider your organization's biggest success? Our biggest success is the deployment of our technology currently underway in Canada and Europe. We’ve emerged as a small local company from Québec to a world-class player in the fi eld of waste treatment and biofuel production. Our fi rst plant started its operations in Edmonton in 2016 and is the world’s fi rst commercial-size facility capable of transforming waste into biofuels and circular chemicals. We are now involved in the construction of a second commercial-sized facility in Varennes, Québec. Varennes Carbon Recycling, carried out with a group of strategic partners including Shell as ENERKEM IS THE FIRST COMPANY IN THE WORLD TO DESIGN A TECHNOLOGY THAT CAN, AT A COMMERCIAL SCALE, PRODUCE CIRCULAR CHEMICALS AND BIOFUELS FROM NONRECYCLABLE, NON COMPOSTABLE MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE. SEP 2022 • ISSUE 03 37Enerkem’s advanced thermochemical recycling process recycles the carbon in waste into advanced biofuels and circular chemicals such as methanol and ethanol. As a result, the process avoids methane emissions from landfi lls and reduces reliance on fossil fuels. the lead investor, along with Suncor and Proman, will produce 125 million litres of biofuels from 200,000 tons of feedstock made up of non-recycla- ble waste and residues of forest biomass. Hydrogen and oxygen used in our process will be produced by electrolysis. Québec’s clean and renewable hydroelectricity is an essential component of this innovative industrial complex. In Tarragona, Spain, Enerkem has joined with Repsol and Suez to create Ecoplanta Molecular Recycling Solutions, a partnership that aims to build a plant to convert non-recyclable waste into biofuels and circular chemicals. Th is large-scale facility will process approximately 400,000 tonnes of municipal solid waste per year from the sur- rounding areas and is expected to be operational by 2026. It was recently selected by the European Commission to receive €106 million (CA$140 mil- lion) in fi nancial support and Enerkem’s chemical recycling technology particularly impressed the European Commission. In Rotterdam, Netherlands, Enerkem is now working with Shell and the Port of Rotterdam on a projected plant to produce sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). Th is project, currently under devel- opment, could process up to 360,000 tonnes of waste annually and produce up to 80,000 tonnes of circular fuel. What makes your organization unique? Enerkem is the fi rst company in the world to design a technology that can, at a commercial scale, produce circular chemicals and biofuels from non-recyclable, non-compostable municipal solid waste. Our solution replaces the use of fossil fuel sources like petroleum and natural gas with sustainable biofuels and chemicals to produce a broad range of everyday products. As well, our people make us unique. Th roughout the years, we have built a dynamic team of specialists and researchers who are now recognized worldwide. How do you feel your organization makes the world better? Enerkem’s technology provides an alternative to landfi lling waste that cannot be recuperated or recycled. From this feedstock, we can produce biofuels that considerably reduce the carbon foot- print of hard-to-decarbonize sectors, such as heavy transportation and commercial air transport. Nowhere is this better illustrated than in Th e Sky’s the Limit Challenge, a competition organized by the Government of Canada, where the objective was to encourage research and development aimed at the diffi cult-to-reduce carbon footprint of air transport, which currently accounts for roughly 3% of total global GHG emissions, according to the Environmental and Energy Study Institute. Enerkem won this competition last April by producing a sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) which lowers GHG emissions by 93%. What's more, the produced biofuel comes from an iconic source in OUR LONGTERM VISION IS TO DEPLOY OUR TECHNOLOGY WORLDWIDE TO HELP REDUCE UP TO OF WASTE CURRENTLY PRODUCED BY TRANSFORMING NONREUSABLE MATERIALS INTO BIOFUELS TO POWER VEHICLES OR MANUFACTURE PRODUCTS. 38 MAKE THE WORLD BETTER MAGAZINEEnerkem Alberta Biofuels, located in Edmonton, Canada, is the world’s fi rst major collaboration between a large city and an innovative waste-to-biofuels producer. enerkem.com linkedin.com/company/enerkem twitter.com/enerkem facebook.com/enerkem youtube.com/user/EnerkemVideos Canada: forest biomass residues which are discard- ed in large quantities every year. Tell us about your organization's goals. Our long-term vision is to deploy our technology worldwide to help reduce up to 90% of waste currently produced by transforming non-reusable materials into biofuels to power vehicles or manu- facture products. Are there any upcoming initiatives or projects you'd like to share? Our main focus will be the pursuit of our current deployment in Canada and in Europe through the projects in Varennes, Tarragona, and Rotterdam. With NOVA Chemicals Corporation, we are also conducting a very promising research project on plastics at our Edmonton research centre. Th e objective is to convert synthesis gas produced from used, non-recyclable plastics to feedstocks for virgin-grade plastics, a signifi cant step toward a circular economy. What do you most want people to know about your organization? We are currently in the right place at the right time; we have a unique technology and are devel- oping projects at an accelerated pace in Québec, Canada, and abroad. We have the ability and the obligation to make a diff erence for the future of our planet. And we are working on it every day. How can people help or contribute to your organization's mission? Everyone can play a role in building a circular economy. When consuming, think circular. Be aware that waste will be produced when a product is discarded and favour the one with the lowest environmental footprint. Consumers can also contribute to our mission by staying informed about the impact current technologies can have on improving waste repro- cessing and the production of circular materials such as biofuels. Technology has a major role to play to address the environmental challenges we face. People need to be aware of the evolution of this fascinating, promising world. SEP 2022 • ISSUE 03 39Next >