Ontario Grain Farmer February 2021

and open new markets for Ontario farmers and manufacturers. Biobins were followed by the world’s first fully compostable coffee pods in 2015, made fromwaste coffee bean skins fromMcDonalds Corp. In an interview, Claudio Gemmiti, senior vice-president of innovation and strategic growth at Club Coffee which commercialized the pods, praised the BDDC’s efforts. “People throw around the term ‘leading edge’ a lot (but) BDDC is exactly that,” he said. “They are doing the fundamental work to enable the shift to a more renewable economy by finding ways to replace traditional petroleum-based plastics with ones made using plant and agricultural substitutes.” Most lately, the BDDC created a bio-composite resin using biocarbon (made from coffee chaff) used by Ford Motor Company to make headlight housings for the prestigious Lincoln Continental. Every semester, dozens of students are involved in BDDC’s work. Misra is proud that many of her trainees are now in careers in industry, government, and academia, and some progressing to leading positions in their field. “They’ve involved in areas that are linked to sustainability in their own work, which is great to see,” she says. And she hopes the WXN award is inspirational, particularly for prospective female researchers. “By this recognition I have received, may many young women be encouraged not only to seek higher education but to pursue studies in science and engineering disciplines in order to make their own passionate contribution to a better world,” says Misra. l ONTARIO GRAIN FARMER 33 FBRUARY 2021 “Our main premise of these programs is based on sustainability and using renewable resources, substituting petroleum-based materials with new carbon sources.” MISRA MANJU (CENTRE) TALKING WITH STUDENTS AT THE BIOPRODUCTS DISCOVER AND DEVELOPMENT CENTRE, UNIVERSITY OF GUELPH . PHOTO COURTESY OF MARTIN SCHWALBE.