Discover the outstanding environmental initiatives that received FCM’s 2022 Sustainable Communities Awards in five categories.

This year’s winners demonstrate vision, leadership and commitment to environmental sustainability, while delivering social and economic benefits in their communities. Spanning from PEI to Alberta, there is something for everyone to learn from. Learn about the background, challenge, approach, barriers, results and next steps of each project.

Natural Asset Management: 

• Tale of a Thousand Turtles, Township of the Archipelago, ON
• Municipal Servicing Benefits of Natural Infrastructure in Agricultural Lands, Parkland County, AB

Climate Change Mitigation:

• Switch, PACE Atlantic CIC, Stratford, PE, Charlottetown, PE, Wolfville, NS
• Shared mobility – RÉGÎM TCiTé, Régie intermunicipale de transport Gaspésie – Magdalen Islands (RÉGÎM) – Gaspésie, QC

Waste:

• Food Material Flow Study, Guelph-Wellington, Guelph & Wellington County, ON
• Réemploi+, Becoming rich in a different way through the circular economy and sustainable development, Régie des matières résiduelles du Lac-Saint-Jean - Lac-Saint-Jean, QC

Affordable Housing Retrofit:

• 500 MacNab - the Ken Soble Passive House Retrofit, CityHousing Hamilton, Hamilton, ON

Community Buildings Retrofit: 

• Actionable Roadmap to Net Zero Ice Rinks: from technical solutions to practical implementation, Climate Challenge Network, Toronto, Brampton, Markham, Barrie, Caledon, Halton Hills, Township of King, ON

The recipients presented their projects at the 2023 Sustainable Communities Conference that took place in Ottawa, Ontario, February 7–10. View all winners presentations on FCM's YouTube channel. 

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Summary

In an effort to reduce GHG emissions from transportation and provide more equitable transport options, a group of municipalities in the Gaspésie-Îles-de-la-Madeleine region together with transit organization RÉGÎM have teamed up to create TCiTé. This shared mobility project is aimed at reducing the need for private vehicles by using Mobility as a Service (MaaS) technology to offer electric car and bike sharing, taxi services and other transport options, and includes municipal purchase of EVs. Thus far, the project has shown promise as a means of reducing emissions and fuel costs while promoting electrification and more communal means of transportation.

Background

Located in Atlantic Quebec, the Gaspé Peninsula and the Magdalen Islands make up a single administrative region that has a relatively small population of about 90,000 spread out across more than 20,000 square kilometres. The majority of residents live more than three kilometres from essential services such as grocery stores and health care providers. This region, Gaspésie-Îles-de-la-Madeleine, is served by the transportation organization RÉGÎM, which operates a number of public transit routes as well as accessible transport options.

The challenge

Despite the prevalence of private vehicles in the region, there is still demand for transportation alternatives, not only to lower greenhouse gas emissions but also to offer options to people who cannot or prefer not to get around with their own car: think youth, seniors, lower-income residents and people who are unable to drive. 

To help serve this population and reduce the region’s carbon footprint, RÉGÎM and a group of local municipalities —Gaspé, Carleton-sur-Mer, Chandler, Grande-Rivière, Maria, and Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine — were looking for innovative solutions to expand their sustainable transportation offerings and reduce the need for private vehicles while also strengthening the community.

Approach

In 2019, the group launched the transportation project TCiTé. The goal was to find ways to make the region’s transportation options more sustainable. One major aspect of this was the intention to lower the region’s GHG emissions from transportation, but they also had in mind energizing and revitalizing communities and town centres. An additional hope is that reducing the need for and use of individual vehicles will help increase disposable incomes and, therefore, enrich communities.

After performing feasibility studies, the group decided to launch a pilot quickly to increase transportation availability within the region. Finding ways to use technology to make the whole system smarter was a high priority, as was a focus on the sharing economy and electrification. The plan included:

•  Adding EVs to municipal fleets;
• Optimizing and electrifying public transit;
•  Installing EV charging and other necessary infrastructure;
•  Developing digital tools (Mobility as a Service, or MaaS) to help residents and staff use, optimize and coordinate various means of transport; and
•  Developing and promoting car sharing, carpooling, taxi and Uber-style services, and active means of transportation such as electric bikes.

Municipalities purchased 10 EVs as well as related infrastructure in 2019. This was a key part of the plan for a number of reasons: 

•  Having municipal staff and elected officials use an EV when possible rather than a gas-powered truck would directly lower employees’ GHG emissions.
•  These vehicles would serve as a model for community members curious about EVs, and showcase their suitability for the region and municipalities’ readiness to support them.
•  Municipal EVs would be made available during off hours (generally, during evenings and weekends) to community members as part of the TCiTé car-sharing service at a cost of $7 per hour.

The EVs were equipped with an information module to track things like battery level, charging status and current location, and to allow for access via RFID cards rather than keys. Each participating municipality also built its own version of an electric service station, a hub that offers EV charging as well as other amenities such as bus shelters, bicycle racks and community-owned electric bikes.

The municipal-RÉGÎM collaboration allowed for shared responsibility in a way that preempted potential challenges. For instance, while municipal offices tend to be closed on evenings and weekends, the transportation organization was already operating during those times. This made them the natural fit to oversee relationships with EV users from the community at large.

Barriers

One major challenge in implementation was persuading employees accustomed to using pick-up trucks for everything, or to using their own vehicles for work-related trips, that they should use EVs instead when appropriate. Education about using “the right vehicle for the right job” was helpful to encourage staff to make the switch.

An additional barrier was related to vehicle insurance. Municipalities had to convince insurers to extend coverage on the EVs so that it would encompass car sharing. 

Results

The 10 EVs purchased have had a direct impact on communities’ environmental impact: using an EVs rather than a gas-powered vehicle reduces emissions of a single vehicle by an estimated 95 percent. Participating municipalities have seen lower fuel consumption and vehicle wear and tear: estimates show that replacing gas-powered vehicles with EVs could result in savings of up to 84 percent in fuel costs.   

Between June 2021 and March 2022, 175 users made a total of 300 reservations; these users were both internal (employees and elected officials) and external (community members).

Benefits

The car sharing program offers a number of benefits:

•  Fleet usage by external users during evenings and weekends is a revenue opportunity for municipalities.
•  Letting community members rent vehicles on an hourly basis gives them the chance to try out an EV and might increase their motivation to buy one themselves when it comes time to replace their current vehicle.
•  The management and reservation system that was developed to handle the car sharing program can be used by other organizations.

In addition, the TCiTé program overall has had and will have numerous benefits for the community, including:

• Reducing personal vehicle use and maintenance.
• Promoting safe travel for all, keeping equity in mind.
• Energizing and reviving regional communities.
• Providing communities with affordable public transit.
• Implementing electric charging stations that will serve as “rest stops” and tourist attractions.
• Connecting cities and smaller municipalities by creating EV travel routes.
• Reducing transportation costs and helping workers who don’t own a vehicle.

Lessons learned

An important part of this project has been communication and raising awareness. Partners have learned that there is no such thing as too much training and information. One aspect of this, for instance, is that users who sign up for car sharing are given an information package with everything they need to know, and the team created an FAQ to help customer service staff provide answers to common questions.

The group has realized that elected officials and municipal employees are highly visible members of the community and, as such, the ways they choose to get around are influential. Encouraging these groups to be active participants in transportation projects such as TCiTé both sets an example and helps reinforce a sense of community ownership.

Another key aspect of this project was experimentation and agility. Partners weren’t sure out of the gate how staff and community members would use the EVs, and made sure to be open to different modes as usage took off. For instance, they began with an hourly rental rate but quickly realized that some users wanted to borrow a vehicle for an entire day, so they adapted by also offering a daily rate.

Next steps

Project partners are pleased with the results thus far and sustainable transportation continues to be part of decision-makers’ long-term vision. Future goals include:

• Increasing the number and variety of available vehicles.
•  Working with more interested municipalities to include EV purchases for car-sharing in their budgets.
•  Continuing to promote the sharing economy within the public sector.

When it comes to electrification in particular, RÉGÎM has decided it would like to switch its entire transportation network to electric not only for environmental reasons, but for economic and social ones as well.

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Summary

While natural assets such as wetlands are known to provide both tangible and intangible benefits for communities, their value can be hard to put a number on. The Alberta municipality of Parkland County has been experiencing both extreme weather events and degradation of natural infrastructure, and they wanted to evaluate the costs and benefits of maintaining and restoring wetlands and other ecosystems. By partnering at the watershed level with local NGOs and academia, they were able to complete a project involving mapping, modelling and analysis to better understand the value of these ecosystems and build a quantifiable business case for preserving and restoring them not only within their own borders, but across municipal boundaries as well.

Background

Parkland County is a municipality with a diversity of landscapes. Its eastern areas experience a lot of pressure from urban development, while the western side is more agricultural, with plenty of farm and ranch land. From an ecological perspective, the county encompasses a number of ecosystems including wetlands, rivers and small lakes, thereby hosting a great deal of potential habitat and biodiversity. However, the municipality has seen a 56 percent loss of wetland area between 1950 and 2013, and only 53 percent of its riparian areas remain intact.  

The county overlaps with the Modeste watershed, an area of about 4,800 square kilometres upstream of Edmonton that drains into the North Saskatchewan River and influences the drinking water of more than 1.6 million people.

In recent years, Parkland County and the surrounding region have experienced a number of extreme weather events, including:

•  Large-scale wildfires in disturbed peatlands and forests,
• Flooding of roadways, private properties and agricultural land,
•  Disruptions to water treatment from high volumes of contaminated run-off due to large storms, and
•  Drought conditions resulting in major agricultural losses.

Not only do such events affect residents’ quality of life, but they impact service delivery and increase costs. 

Given these challenges and the rising threat of climate change, the municipality and its partners posed the question: To what degree do natural assets such as wetlands help mitigate the effects of extreme weather events and landscape changes over time? And how might municipalities improve this natural infrastructure to support climate resilience and reduce servicing costs? 

The challenge

Too often, natural spaces such as wetlands are seen as unproductive land that’s ripe for development. However, evidence suggests that beyond their intrinsic value, these ecosystems provide quantifiable social, economic and structural value to the local and global community, including: 

• Water filtration and retention
•  Increased water storage capacity for droughts
•  Lower risk of flooding
•  Carbon sequestration
•  Increased wildlife habitat and biodiversity

Parkland Country and its partners wanted to do the math on this value and to evaluate the costs and benefits of preserving and improving wetlands and other natural infrastructure on agricultural land as they relate to municipal servicing, agricultural production and the community as a whole. 

The goal was to quantify related cost savings, efficiency and other metrics in terms that would make decision-making easier for municipal stakeholders, and to stress the potential negative impacts should further ecosystem losses occur.

Approach

The project was based on a recognition that in order to successfully achieve environmental goals, environmental considerations must be integrated into all aspects of land use and service delivery provided by a municipality. In addition, as many municipal decisions are made through the budgeting process, it is important to demonstrate cost savings or cost efficiency when highlighting the value of natural infrastructure to improve service delivery and climate resilience. 

The fact that natural ecosystems do not coincide with municipal boundaries was a factor as well. Changes to the land in one municipality will ultimately affect others within that watershed, which means such projects benefit from being conducted at a regional or collaborative level.

The importance of natural assets is expected to increase under a changing climate, and therefore climate data and related considerations were incorporated into the analysis.

The plan consisted of two phases. The first was to understand ecosystem value and the costs of restoration. The second was to build a quantifiable business case for using natural infrastructure solutions to help solve ongoing drainage issues. The two phases included:

• Mapping and modelling current natural assets and the impact of a range of scenarios — previously implemented restoration projects, further natural asset restoration and further natural asset loss — on water quality and quantity;
•  Quantifying the actual costs of natural asset restoration on the ground;
•  Analyzing the potential cost versus benefit of natural asset restoration on municipal servicing for road maintenance and water treatment, agricultural insurance and public recreation;
•  Identifying priority assets for restoration to meet municipal water quality goals in the most cost- and land-effective manner; and
•  Mapping drainage issue hotspots and quantifying the potential costs and benefits of restoring natural assets upstream to improve service levels, reduce road maintenance costs and adapt to climate change.

Barriers

The project revealed a range of barriers to natural asset management for the county, such as: 

•  A lack of standardization for developing natural asset inventories, valuation and financial reporting;
• Limited staff capacity and resources, a common issue in smaller municipalities in Alberta;
•  Conflicting policies and regulations that could indirectly encourage the elimination of natural assets such as wetlands; and
•  The existence of large data gaps for rural asset systems, both natural and traditional.

Natural infrastructure is a new challenge for many municipalities. Incorporating it into planning, operations and financing is not a simple task and doing so will require new data collection and analysis as well as building relationships with private landowners and other stakeholders.

Results

Overall, the project demonstrated that municipalities can and should consider the value of natural assets in their everyday decision-making. Parkland County now has a stronger understanding of the value of natural assets to their community, especially in terms of their road and drainage network, and an improved understanding of the financial costs of climate change. For instance, modelling shows that natural assets are feasible tools to use for climate adaptation of road infrastructure.

Council, management and staff are now all better equipped to make decisions regarding natural assets. They are using results and recommendations from this project to better understand the value of natural infrastructure as well as the potential impact of its loss on the community, and to incorporate a consideration of natural assets into the decision-making process. For example, planning and development staff can now make a better case to retain a wetland during land development for its water management potential.

The project has also helped staff estimate the cost of meeting certain water quality and quantity goals through natural asset restoration so that they can prioritize budgets accordingly. 

For instance, one goal is to reduce the quantity of total suspended solids (TSS) in waterways. These particles — think sediment, bacteria and algae — float in water without dissolving, and cause increased water temperatures and decreased oxygen, resulting in lower water quality. The municipality has estimated that it will cost $170,303 annually to reduce TSS in waterways by 5 percent (3,000 tonnes) each year through building wetlands and riparian buffers. Their modelling also shows them where to install these natural assets to get the most impact for the lowest cost.

Benefits

The initiative has had a number of additional benefits, including:

• An increase in useful data about the region’s natural infrastructure, such as the creation of new asset maps showing agricultural land management and land use, and an improved asset management system.
• An increase in momentum to integrate natural asset management across the organization.
•  Valuable recommendations to improve the municipality’s drainage issues database and record keeping, so that staff can better manage and improve these assets and find ways in which natural assets can relieve pressure on traditional infrastructure.
•  Stronger community partnerships, such as with farmers and ranchers, and improved incentives for these community members to participate in restoring natural assets.
•  Improved water and ecosystem health, including increased wildlife and pollinator habitat, better water quality and carbon sequestration.
• Improved understanding of the cost of climate change.

Lessons learned

First and foremost, the team concluded that engaging staff at every level was key to the project’s success. For example, staff were able to give input on how their day-to-day realities relate to big-picture thinking on natural infrastructure.

This project also highlighted the importance of partnering with agricultural producers in cases such as this where the natural assets in question are on agricultural land. To this end, they administer the ALUS program whereby farmers and ranchers receive financial support to conserve and restore natural assets on their land. The results of this project are now being used to prioritize funding for ALUS projects as well as to direct communications to areas where asset improvements can have the most impact. 

Another important realization was that natural infrastructure analyses are very site specific and local modelling is required. 

Next steps

Parkland County’s intention is to increase the integration of natural asset management and climate change adaptation into existing policies and planning documents. For example, staff are incorporating project results into the new Stormwater Master Plan to prioritize natural infrastructure that has a high impact on drainage. 

Staff are also hoping that the project can lead to a more robust and format asset management plan that includes inventoried natural assets with quantifiable financial value to the county. This will help with the transition to natural assets being recorded on municipal balance sheets. 

In addition, project partners intend to expand their assessment to a watershed level. This will mean sharing their approach with neighbouring municipalities through regional watershed planning alliances. 

Since the project was completed, Parkland County has completed and embarked on a number of related initiatives:

•  They are including policy in their Municipal Development Plan update to require land developers to identify and mitigate negative impacts to natural assets during the land development process.
•  They have applied for funding to complete a natural asset inventory for the entire county as well as to update their Engineering Design Standards to include natural infrastructure options or requirements along with grey infrastructure in stormwater management and landscaping.
•  They have implemented a four-hectare wetland construction project and a shoreline bioengineering project, both of which have been connected to the road and drainage system to mitigate erosion and flooding issues.

Quote

“In Parkland County our goal is not just to integrate sustainability considerations into the asset management process, but to embed the asset management process into our environmental and sustainability programs.”

– Krista Quesnel, Manager, Community Sustainability

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Summary

Household energy use is a significant contributor to Canada’s carbon emissions. In the Maritimes, where fuel oil and fossil fuels are common sources of heat and electricity, this effect is especially pronounced. Improving home energy efficiency and installing clean energy sources can make a difference, but the upfront costs are often a barrier. In three municipalities in P.E.I. and Nova Scotia, a new program is offering financing to homeowners to help them retrofit their houses for better efficiency — and to save money on energy costs, too.

Background

Household energy use makes a significant contribution to Canada’s carbon footprint. Nova Scotia, P.E.I. and Newfoundland and Labrador in particular stand out among all the provinces and territories as having the highest household GHG emissions per capita. One key reason for this is that it is common in the region to use fuel oil to heat homes. In Nova Scotia, as well, electricity predominantly comes from burning fossil fuels, contributing greatly to the province’s emissions. Households in Atlantic Canada spend more on energy than in any other province.

All this means that there is a huge opportunity in the Maritimes to make substantial reductions in GHG emissions by helping households reduce their energy usage and shift toward cleaner energy sources. 

The challenge

While rebates are available for energy-efficient home upgrades such as improving insulation and installing solar and heat pump systems, upfront costs are still high and not accessible to all Canadians.

One way to bridge this gap is through a PACE (property assessed clean energy) program. Common in the U.S. and spreading into Canada, PACE is a means to finance building retrofits on private property to increase energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy.

In 2020, a group of three small municipalities — Charlottetown and Stratford in P.E.I. and Wolfville, N.S. — teamed up with community interest corporation PACE Atlantic to design and launch a regional PACE program. The goal: to empower homeowners to take action on climate change by upgrading their homes — and to save them money at the same time.

Approach

The three municipalities launched their PACE program, branded as Switch, in July 2021. Thanks to funding from FCM’s Community Efficiency Financing initiative, they were able to start offering homeowners interest-free loans with no upfront costs on up to 20-year terms for energy-efficient retrofits. Residential property owners can apply for project loans including:

•  Solar panel installation
•  Heat pump installation
•  EV charger installation
•  Improving insulation
• Replacing windows and doors

To cover administration expenses, loan amounts include a fee of 5 percent of the total project cost. Program administration is part of the appeal for homeowners: Switch staff don’t just guide them through paperwork and the process of finding and hiring a contractor, but also help them access federally funded free home energy assessments and rebates from provincial efficiency organizations. In addition, each participant is assigned an energy concierge, who oversees the project from start to finish.

One goal of these partner municipalities was to have participation from a wide range of demographics. With this in mind, they set a target that 15 percent of participants should be low-income qualified (with an annual household income of up to $55,000).

All projects are designed to be cash flow positive, meaning that homeowners should see monthly savings on their utility bills that exceed the cost of loan repayments. 

Results

Together, Switch Charlottetown, Switch Wolfville and Switch Stratford have become the fastest-growing PACE programs ever in Canada. As of mid-June 2022, Switch Charlottetown and Switch Stratford had: 

•  Provided almost $2 million in financing for 131 completed projects
•  Signed another 177 project agreements
•  Reached 1.4 percent of all eligible dwellings in Charlottetown and 3.5 percent in Stratford

Of these homes reached, around 30 percent sign more than one agreement — that is, complete more than one project to achieve deep energy retrofits in their homes.

In its first year of programming, Switch achieved a total of:

•  332 homes committed to be retrofitted
•  $6.2 million in committed capital to be distributed and invested by homeowners
•  $565,000 in annual energy cost savings
•  1,062 tonnes of annual CO2e reduction

The Switch programs continue to grow in impact and as of November 1, 2022, they have a total of 586 projects underway or completed, including:

• 148 solar panel installations
• 238 heat pump installations
• 73 insulation installations
• 127 other installations (e.g., EV chargers, HRV systems, doors and windows)

Benefits

One additional benefit of reducing fuel oil usage in a community is lessening the likelihood of environmental damage due to accidental spills. In Wolfville, the two main water sources are drilled wells in a dense urban setting. One of the goals of Switch Wolfville is to protect these assets.

The Switch program is also developing employment opportunities in the region. One year in and the program has created more than 130 jobs, and there are projections for that number to grow to more than 210 by early 2025.

In addition, social equity and accessibility were built into the program. Participants in each community are from a wide range of demographics and neighbourhoods, and an estimated 15 to 20 percent of homeowners taking part in the program are from a low- to middle-income bracket. The value of retrofitted homes in the program ranges from $90,000 to $470,000.

One advantage of Switch over similar programs is that there is no minimum project cost, and in fact, about one-quarter of jobs completed have had a cost of under $5,000. Lower-income homeowners who install solar panels in darker times of the year — when there is less sun to provide power to their new system — have access to a layaway program, whereby loan payments are deferred until spring.

Lessons learned

The value of working together has been a major component of the Switch program’s success. Participating municipalities and PACE Atlantic CIC had complementary capabilities and neither could have run the programs without the other. 

One factor in getting elected officials and communities on board has been the multiple benefits offered by the program: not only does it have positive environmental effects, but it saves participants money and provides work for local businesses. Emphasizing all of these benefits helps to get buy-in from stakeholders with a wide range of priorities.

Next steps

Switch is currently transitioning from a pilot funded by municipalities to a sustainable, long-term program funded by private capital, though PACE Atlantic CIC will continue to administer it. This will allow them to continue to offer the program and to scale up the number of home retrofits in these communities. While this means that financing will no longer be 0% interest, the ROI for homeowners on their projects has typically been between 20 and 40 percent, meaning that there is room in budgets for participants to pay interest on loans while still saving money overall.

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Summary

A challenge facing many municipalities is how to divert more waste from landfill, both to lower GHG emissions and to reduce their need for landfill space. In Quebec’s Lac-Saint-Jean region, communities and waste management have teamed up to create Réemploi+, an organization that is creating a system for waste diversion and reuse while also developing skills training opportunities. Residents’ donations are sorted and prepared to be sold in special hardware stores that hire local workers and bring in revenue to help fund the program. The result: a more circular economy and a local culture that values lower-waste living.

Background

The Régie des matières résiduelles du Lac-Saint-Jean (RMR), or Waste Management Corporation of Lac Saint-Jean, is an intermunicipal organization that serves Lac Saint-Jean and Mashteuiatsh, Quebec. The region includes a population of 108,629 spread across 36 different municipalities. 

As in many regions, the RMR has been facing the challenge of limited landfill capacity. For this reason, as well as to reduce GHG emissions from landfills and waste management as part of the fight against climate change, the organization was looking for innovative ways to reduce waste and the overconsumption of disposable goods. It was also hoped for these initiatives to have a social component, to benefit the community at multiple levels.

The challenge

There are many ways to divert waste from landfill. One of these is reuse: finding a second life for materials that would otherwise be thrown out. It’s with this goal in mind that the RMR created a new social economy organization called Réemploi+, which translates to “reuse plus” in English. The idea is to encourage residents to donate usable items rather than sending them to landfill, and then sort these items for resale. The environmental benefits are twofold: not only can the quantity of waste be reduced, but the number of new goods coming into the community can be reduced as well. 

Of course, this kind of program requires staff, which is where the secondary focus of the Réemploi+ concept lies: creating work, training and integration opportunities for residents isolated from the labour market. In addition, the RMR believed that Réemploi+ would help strengthen the community by empowering citizens to participate in a local project that’s making a difference. 

Approach

The RMR launched Réemploi+ in 2021 with four pillars of action:

1. Create reuse sorting stations in all seven regional ecocentres.
2. Create three reuse hardware stores to sell refurbished goods and generate $3 million in annual sales.
3. Develop reuse workshops where high-potential goods can be fixed, mended and repurposed.
4. Create training and opportunities to help people boost their employability and job skills.

Sorting stations accept a wide range of goods, from nails and screws to large items such as fences and gazebos. Wood is anticipated to make up 70 percent of materials received; its reuse will make a large dent in GHG emissions. Shoppers at Réemploi+ hardware stores can expect to find a wide range of items — think toilets and sinks, hardwood and vinyl flooring, and electrical goods — at a lower cost than buying new.

Barriers

The team has overcome a number of challenges:

•  Due to the pandemic, the implementation of deposits and donations was slower than anticipated, which delayed revenue-generating opportunities.
•  It was difficult to project the specific kinds of materials residents would donate and thus what the project’s storage and transportation requirements would be. Once donations were underway, the team was able to adjust expectations and needs accordingly.
•  Because of a lack of available space and difficulties with the procurement process, the first store didn’t open until November 2021, which was later than anticipated.
•  Human resources have been an ongoing challenge. It has been difficult to find the right candidates to manage the development of this new organization and its operational activities, while sustaining employee commitment. Two general directors were hired in one year.

Results

As of November 2022, Réemploi+ has achieved the following:

•  Established sorting stations in six ecocentres
•  Set up a primary 9,000-square-foot warehouse and a secondary smaller warehouse for storing donations
•  Set up repair and repurposing processes for collected items
•  Run a series of work programs to help people develop employability skills
•  Filled 33 staff positions, with additional openings available
•  Opened two hardware stores, with plans for a third to open in spring 2023

When complete, the project will:

• Divert 5,000 tons per year of waste from landfill and recycling
•  Reduce GHG emissions by 20 percent within three years
•  Increase the landfill diversion rate from 64 to 67 percent

Benefits

One key focus of Réemploi+ is on developing jobs and skilled workers. When the project is up to full speed, revenue from sales of diverted materials will fully fund 35 jobs. As part of this, it has the potential to train 200 people per year.

In addition, while the project has strong direct environmental benefits, it also has the potential to shift the local culture toward one that values reuse, a circular economy, buying local, and collective entrepreneurship. This is helped by the fact that residents can purchase goods from the Réemploi+ hardware stores at a lower cost than buying new.

Lessons learned

The biggest lesson the team has learned is that this kind of project needs to be flexible, so that staff can try different things and learn from what works. Consumer interest in the local community is what will influence the direction future reuse and repurposing programs go in.

Next steps

The Réemploi+ team continues to implement its original strategy with modifications made as needed. Future goals include:

• Open all three hardware stores
•  Integrate electrified transportation of donations and reused goods to further reduce GHGs
•  Fully ramp up the training and employment component

Quote

“The Réemploi+ project is more than just a financial commitment. It’s a moral commitment to a collective and innovative solution for waste reuse that leverages the skills of the people of Lac-Saint-Jean.”