Community-based Research Laboratory (CBRL)

Permanent URI for this collection

https://hdl.handle.net/1828/21402

The Community-based Research Laboratory (CBRL) is a knowledge hub created by Dr. Jutta Gutberlet in 2005 and located in the Department of Geography at the University of Victoria. CBRL hosts a group of researchers and students that are committed to participatory oriented and community-based research in Canada and around the world.

Our Vision is to bridge global challenges with local actions, effecting sustainable change through collaborative partnerships with universities, government, civil society, NGOs, business sector, and grassroots initiatives to improve the livelihoods of individuals and communities.

Our Mission is to conduct and engage in participatory action research with community members in order to achieve progressive social, economic and environmentally sustainable and transformative change.

Browse

Recent Submissions

Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Reimagining urban waste management: Addressing social, climate, and resource challenges in modern cities
    (2025-01) Gutberlet, Jutta; Bramryd, Torleif
    Governments worldwide are seeking better solutions for solid waste management. Thermal treatment projects are presented as quick fixes for rising waste challenges, without addressing the limitations of incineration. Currently, there is a rise in proposals for thermal treatment technologies in developing countries. Scrutiny of the risks and impacts of these alternatives is necessary due to social, climate, and resource considerations. Energy from waste incineration is considered fossil energy since about half of the CO2 emissions come from fossil polymers in the waste. From a sustainability perspective, landfilling is a short-term option for materials currently unsuitable for recycling. Landfills act as bioreactors, producing valuable biogas, and serve as “resource banks,” storing unrecyclable resources until better recycling techniques are developed. In developing countries manual labor is abundant and material sorting and landfilling are more valuable and have a lower climate and resource footprint. This paper offers a novel, integrated perspective of waste management in view of poverty reduction, climate change and resource conservation.
 
University of Victoria Libraries

We acknowledge and respect the Lək̓ʷəŋən (Songhees and Esquimalt) Peoples on whose territory the university stands, and the Lək̓ʷəŋən and W̱SÁNEĆ Peoples whose historical relationships with the land continue to this day.