A Waterloo Engineering research team has received federal funding to develop a made-in-Canada solution to one of the country's most pressing environmental challenges.
Dr. Sushanta Mitra, a professor in the Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering, along with chemical engineering professors Dr. Boxin Zhao and Dr. Nasser Mohieddin Abukhdeir, has been awarded $600,000 through the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) Call for Proposals on Plastics Science and Innovation for a Cleaner and More Sustainable Future. The grant is one of 17 projects sharing $8.6 million in funding aimed at advancing scientific knowledge and informing evidence-based plastics policy and regulation across Canada.
Mitra, who serves as executive director of the Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology (WIN) — Canada's largest nanotechnology institute — and is a fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering, the Royal Society of Chemistry, the Electrochemical Society and the American Physical Society. The team will also collaborate with BC Research Inc.
Drawing inspiration from the way coral mucus naturally traps tiny particles, the team is building a low-cost, real-time detection and removal platform that combines novel adhesive materials, advanced sensors, and AI-driven analysis — replacing conventional laboratory methods that can take up to 72 hours with rapid, in-the-field monitoring. The data generated will help pinpoint pollution sources and inform more targeted regulations under Canada's goal of zero plastic waste by 2030.
"Today’s funding is part of the Government of Canada’s ambitious, evidence-based and comprehensive plan to reduce plastic waste and pollution and move towards a strong, safe and resilient circular plastics economy," said NSERC's president, Professor Alejandro Adem, in a media release. "By empowering researchers and communities with the tools they need, we are strengthening the contributions of plastics science to policy and decision-making, improving both human and environmental health."