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Waterloo researcher uses microbes to eat methane
The University of Waterloo team is testing microbes to cut methane from aging landfills.
Imagine tiny organisms that eat our pollution and help reduce emissions. This might sound like something straight out of science fiction, but university researchers are making it a reality.Laura Hug, a researcher at the University of Waterloo, is turning to an unexpected ally buried deep within waste: microbes. These tiny organisms are proving powerful tools in helping in the fight against methane emissions from landfills, which account for roughly 17 per cent of national methane emissions.
In any given landfill, a microscopic war is underway. Some microbes generate methane, while others consume it. Hugs’ research explores ways to use methane-eating microbes to reduce “legacy” methane, the ongoing, long-term gas emissions produced by decades-old organic waste buried deep underground.
“We see organisms that are able to oxidize that methane [break down the molecule],” said Hug, adding that the microbes that produce methane and feed on it are very separate from each other.
“They never see each other. The organisms generating methane are buried in the waste”
Hug leads a research team called Mitigation of Methane Emission Hot-Spots from Municipal Landfills. Her work blends soil science and environmental microbiology to better map and understand emissions from Canada’s landfills. A core focus of the project is reducing legacy and poorly quantified methane leaks from older or active waste sites.
For more than ten years, Hug has been studying landfills across Ontario and the United States. Her lab maintains a decade-long collaboration with the Region of Waterloo’s Division of Waste to collect field samples. However, collecting data at a landfill is delicate; doing it incorrectly can accidentally release the very gas they are trying to track.
“What we do is we sample the liquid that builds up in the landfill. It’s called leachate, and it is developed by organic matter breaking down and rainwater infiltrating,” explained Hug.
Beyond methane, Hug and her team use these leachate samples to develop tools that can transform other pervasive environmental contaminants using natural microbial processes.
“There are organisms that can degrade chlorinated solvents. Things like dry cleaning fluid or degreasing fluid for planes, or [chemicals] electronics are dipped into before they’re sealed, and a lot of older landfills have legacy contamination of these solvents, and they’re toxic,” said Hug.
“They partially degrade pretty readily. But there’s only a few organisms that we’ve found that are able to degrade them to a completely non-toxic end product.”
A more precise understanding of these microbes allows Hug’s team to identify which species are most efficient at destroying methane. The goal is to use these organisms to engineer more effective landfill barriers.
“The idea would be that you would be able to mix these into cover soils and put them onto landfills as you were closing and capping them, so that you were kind of starting from a position of this is your enhanced capacity for methane oxidation at a landfill from day zero,” explained Hug.
When it comes to managing aging landfills, physical engineering options are often limited and expensive, which makes microbes all the more promising as a solution.
“They don’t have a lot of physical engineering options for reducing that methane, but that methane is going to be generated and it will work its way out of the system eventually. So, having more effective cover soils would be a really important layer for controlling methane emissions at these aging landfill [sites],” noted Hug.
Copyright 2026, Woolwich Observer. All rights reserved.
Meg Deak, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Woolwich Observer.
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CFB Kingston failed environmental compliance inspection on refrigerants: memo
CFB Kingston failed environmental inspection: memo
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Lars Hagberg
Environment Canada sent National Defence a warning letter earlier this year alleging CFB Kingston broke federal environmental rules by failing to test rooftop air conditioners for refrigerant leaks in 2023.
National Defence documents, obtained through Access to Information law, say the base experienced three large halocarbon releases of over 100 kilograms in the past two years.
Halocarbons are greenhouse gases widely used as refrigerants and are associated with climate change.
The Defence Department blamed limited maintenance resources and poor record-keeping.
The documents also say the government’s recent hikes to the defence budget have led to more resources for maintenance and compliance, including at the Kingston base.
Prime Minister Mark Carney has booked tens of billions in added defence spending to meet Canada’s steep NATO spending commitments — although a previous operational spending clawback is reportedly still going ahead.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 15, 2026.
Copyright 2026, The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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Vancouver officer says Gray not lawfully entitled to repel police during fatal arrest
Gray not entitled to repel police, officer says
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
A Vancouver police officer involved in the deadly arrest of Myles Gray in 2015 says he doesn't believe Gray had any lawful right to repel officers' use of force against him.
Const. Eric Birzneck is testifying at a public hearing into Gray's death called by the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner in Vancouver.
Hearing counsel Brock Martland asked Birzneck about scenarios where a member of the public may be legally allowed to resist police use of force if the "police contact is unlawful," but Birzneck says he believed Gray was "arrestable" at the time of the encounter.
Birzneck is one of seven officers involved in the fatal altercation with Gray who are named as respondents in the public hearing, called to determine whether the officers committed misconduct under the Police Act.
He is the first to testify, telling the hearing this week that Gray displayed incredible strength and appeared "impervious to pain" as officers tried to subdue him near the boundary between Burnaby and Vancouver on Aug. 13, 2015.
No charges have been laid over Gray's death, which a 2023 coroner's inquest ruled was a homicide, a term that does not assign legal blame.
The commissioner's notice of public hearing says an earlier disciplinary process had dismissed the misconduct allegations, but the discipline authority found the process "strangely lopsided" and had to decide the case despite "discrepancies and inconsistencies in statements made by VPD members."
The inquest heard that Gray was left with injuries that included a fractured eye socket, a crushed voice box and ruptured testicles, while a paramedic told the inquest that Gray's bruising was so severe, he initially thought he was not a white man.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 15, 2026.
By Darryl Greer | Copyright 2026, The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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Reste célibataire jusqu'à ce que tu rencontres une personne comme ça
Le dating life en 2018 semble être un horrible cauchemar. Plein de filles célibataires autour de moi ''jouent'' à Tinder et passent tellement vite les profils qu'il est impossible de voir les gars comme il faut.
Le plus triste dans tout ça, c'est que si jamais j'étais tombée sur le profil de mon chum quand j'étais célibataire, j'aurais passé tout droit tellement vite. Je me souviens, il portait un drôle de t-shirt vert et posait à côté d'un arbre de bambou sur sa photo de profil FB et en 2018, ce genre de photo douteuse passerait rapidement à gauche.
J'ai rencontré mon chum en personne - il est venu me parler dans un 5 à 7 et on a échangé nos Facebook. Puis on s'est revu en date quelques jours plus tard. Quand notre soirée s'est terminée, il m'a texté sur le coup et on a continué nos discussions jusqu'à la deuxième date.
Après un mois de dates régulières, il m'a présenté comme sa blonde et c'est ainsi qu'on est devenu un couple. Je ne me suis jamais posé de questions du genre «Combien de temps j'attends avant de répondre à son texte?», «Je me demande si on est exclusifs» ou bien «Est-ce qu'il pense que je suis fatigante quand je le texte en premier». Je ne me suis jamais posé de questions point parce que le fit était juste bon, et dès les premières dates, jle savais.
Dans le passé, j'ai fait l'erreur à multiples reprises de m'embarquer dans des relations avec des gars (comme ce cave-là) en me disant «Il va changer ça», ou «Je l'aime bien, pourquoi pas». Mais ça n'avait jamais été 100% naturel, et aujourd'hui, je comprends qu'il vaut mieux rester célibataire que d'être avec une personne avec qui t'as pas grand-chose en commun.
Quand la période de passion du début va se terminer, tu vas te retrouver dans une relation plate, dans laquelle tu t'épanouis pas pantoute et devoir vivre plusieurs nuits d'anxiété en prévision d'une future rupture.
Sois patient(e), et attends de rencontrer une personne avec qui ça sera juste facile. Simple. Tsé le feeling que tu connais l'autre depuis toujours, que vous aimez les mêmes choses et que tu peux être gossant. Quand le fit est juste bon, tu te retrouves en couple sans vraiment le savoir parce que tu as juste envie d'être souvent avec la personne.
Oh, et bonne nouvelle, la police du dating n'existe pas: tu peux ne pas suivre les règles et faire ce que tu veux. Et si la personne te ghost parce que t'es honnête et toi-même, c'est une maudite bonne nouvelle pour toi!
Donc si tu dates quelqu'un depuis 3 mois, tu as de la misère à la voir plus qu'une fois par semaine, tu penses que c'est fini de temps en temps parce que les messages textes sont pas clairs et tu sais pas trop si vous pouvez fréquenter d'autre monde...ya des bonnes chances que ça ne vaille pas la peine de continuer à te torturer ainsi.
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