Pearson Eco-Business Zone Materials Exchange Program

As a result of the Partners in Project Green Strategy, Chris led the development of the Pearson Eco-Business Zone Materials Exchange Program.  The goal of the program was to help companies identify ways to turn their waste into feedstock for other companies. Overall, the initiative aimed to help drive waste reduction, while facilitating business development and supply chain innovations.

The development of the materials exchange included completing a review of existing materials exchanges globally to better understand the economic and policy drivers that made exchanges successful, while identifying the required tools, marketing and resources that help exchanges grow.  With the relevant information in hand, a business model was developed and funding partners secured to implement the materials exchange program.

The Pearson Eco-Business Zone Materials Exchange Program continues to operate and assists companies around Toronto Pearson International Airport in reducing their waste costs and identifying new sources of feedstocks.

To learn more about the exchange or utilize it for your company, visit http://www.partnersinprojectgreen.com/programs/waste-management/materials-exchange-program.

To view the feasibility study visit here.

Region of Peel Spill Decision Support System

Working within a public-private partnership, Chris project managed the development of the Region of Peel Spill Decision Support System - a web-based spill response system for managing chemical and oil spills within the Region of Peel.

The project's purpose was to provide spill responders a tool for storing historical spill information, tracing spills from their origination to their entry point into watercourses, and identifying potential spill sources by including  a database of chemical storage within the Region.

The project required converging various databases and storm sewer datasets into a comprehensive tool that could be deployed in the field to help improve spill response, while protecting the environment.  

From project initiation to completion, Chris pulled together the four municipal partners to develop the web-based spill system, identifying funding sources, developing a public-private partnership to develop the tool, and managing the consulting team through the technical development of the web-based system.

Partners in Project Green Policy Toolkit

As a result of the Partners in Project Green Strategy, Chris project managed the development of the Partners in Project Green Policy Toolkit - a number of planning policy tools to encourage green business through the development process.

Working with the municipalities of Toronto, Peel, Mississauga and Brampton, Chris worked with his team to develop 11 policy tools for municipal use.  These included communications tools, primers and policy templates that each municipality could use to encourage green business development and a more consistent approach to eco-economic development across the Pearson Eco-Business Zone.

The communications tools were meant to help municipal staff learn and communicate about Partners in Project Green and green business. The tools included text that could be ‘cut-and-paste’ or edited as needed to help staff communicate to different audiences, such as other staff, council, businesses, or developers, the benefits of green business.

The primers provided brief overviews of key land-use issues in relation to encouraging green business. The primers were there to assist staff from different municipal departments develop a common, albeit high-level, understanding of the policy, regulatory, and incentive framework that is shaping eco-business zone activity in the area.

The policy template tools provided specific examples of best practises, current policy wording, advice and other practical, hands-on guidance from creating eco-business policies, such as official plan statements, policy language and subdivision guidelines in municipalities touching on the Pearson Eco-Business Zone.

To view the Pearson Eco-Business Zone Policy Toolkit visit: www.partnersinprojectgreen.com/policytoolkit.

Barriers & Opportunities with Rooftop Solar in the Pearson Eco-Business Zone

To support the adoption of rooftop solar in the Pearson Eco-Business Zone as part of the Ontario Government's Green Energy Act, Chris project managed a study on the barriers to rooftop solar and potential solutions for the Pearson Eco-Business Zone.

Based on research and consultation with market participants, the study identified challenges that fell into four broad categories: 1) Economic Hurdles; 2) Legal and Policy Hurdles; 3) Institutional Knowledge / Capacity Hurdles; and, 4) Technical Hurdles.  

With these identified, Toronto and Region Conservation Authority developed a range of tools and resources to help organizations overcome these hurdles and implement rooftop solar installations in the Pearson Eco-Business Zone.

To view the study visit here.

Partners in Project Green - Eco-Efficiency Program

Working with his team at TRCA, Chris developed the Partners in Project Green Eco-Efficiency Program - a program aimed at identifying resource and cost reduction opportunities for business around Toronto Pearson.

Supported by the local distribution companies servicing the airport area (Toronto Hydro, Enersource Hydro and Brampton Hydro One), along with Enbridge Gas, the Eco-Efficiency Program provided companies with a no-cost high-level audit of their facilities to identify energy, waste and water reduction opportunities.

Chris oversaw the management of consultants and staff hired to provide the high-level audits and their implementation, while also marketing the program to perspective companies.  The program continues to operate around Toronto Pearson and can be found here - http://www.partnersinprojectgreen.com/programs/energy-performance/eco-efficiency-program.