Komal Habib, University of Waterloo

Research

Circular economy Material flow analysis urban mine classification life cycle sustainability assessment techno-economic feasibility assessment environmental impacts low- carbon society fossil-free society

Latest papers

Life cycle assessment of municipal solid waste management in the Region of Waterloo, Canada.
Waste management (New York, N.Y.) · 2026 · first author
A first comprehensive estimate of electronic waste in Canada.
Journal of hazardous materials · 2023 · first author
A critical review of microplastic degradation and material flow analysis towards a circular economy.
Environmental pollution (Barking, Essex : 1987) · 2022

All 3 publications

Latest funding

Urban Mining of Critical Metals in Canada: Environmental and Techno-Economic Assessment
NSERC · 2024 · Principal investigator
$38,000
Beyond Lithium: Establishing resource efficient circularity pathways for urban mines of battery materials in Canada
NSERC · 2023 · Principal investigator
$133,500
Collaborative roadmap development towards a net zero greenhouse gas emissions Canadian egg industry
NSERC · 2022 · Co-investigator
$579,667

All 5 grants and awards

3 publications.

01

Life cycle assessment of municipal solid waste management in the Region of Waterloo, Canada.

Habib K, Chehab LL, Damgaard A

Waste management (New York, N.Y.)2026First author

DOI: 10.1016/j.wasman.2026.115627 PMID: 42259021

02

A first comprehensive estimate of electronic waste in Canada.

Habib K, Mohammadi E, Vihanga Withanage S

Journal of hazardous materials2023First author

DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2023.130865 PMID: 36764257

03

A critical review of microplastic degradation and material flow analysis towards a circular economy.

Cholewinski A, Dadzie E, Sherlock C, Anderson WA, Charles TC, Habib K, Young SB, Zhao B

Environmental pollution (Barking, Essex : 1987)2022

DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2022.120334 PMID: 36216183

Urban Mining of Critical Metals in Canada: Environmental and Techno-Economic Assessment

Principal investigatorNSERC2024Discovery Grants Program - Individual

Principal investigators: Habib, Komal

Keywords: urban mine classification; material flow analysis; life cycle sustainability assessment; techno-economic feasibility assessment; environmental impacts; circular economy; low- carbon society; fossil-free society

$38,000

Beyond Lithium: Establishing resource efficient circularity pathways for urban mines of battery materials in Canada

Principal investigatorNSERC2023Alliance Grants

Principal investigators: Habib, Komal K

Keywords: Circular economy; Clean energy technologies; Electric vehicles; Energy storage; Future demand and supply; Life cycle assessment; Material flow analysis; Recycling technologies; Techno-economic assessment; Urban mining

$133,500

Collaborative roadmap development towards a net zero greenhouse gas emissions Canadian egg industry

Co-investigatorNSERC2022Alliance Grants

Principal investigators: Pelletier, Nathaniel NL

Keywords: eggs; energy simulation; life cycle assessment; multi-criteria decision analysis; multi-objective optimization; net zero greenhouse gas emissions; predictive analytics; renewable energy; technoeconomic assessment; waste valorization

$579,667

Synergistic photocatalytic and biocatalytic degradation for controlling microplastic pollution

Co-investigatorSSHRC2020New Frontiers in Research Fund - Exploration

Principal investigators: Zhao, Boxin

Keywords: microplastic photodegradation wastewater treatment biodegradation plastic pollution

$250,000

Developing efficient resource recovery routes from electronic waste

Principal investigatorNSERC2017Discovery Grants Program - Individual

Principal investigators: Habib, Komal

$154,000

From CIHR, NSERC and SSHRC funding decisions: CIHR since 2008, NSERC since 1991 and SSHRC since 1998, including their latest published competition results.

Frequent collaborators

Boxin Zhao

Department of Chemical Engineering

1 shared papers, latest 2022

Write to this professor

A short, specific email works best. This draft uses one of their recent papers; replace the parts in brackets with your own details before sending.

Applying for

Paper to mentionMention their NSERC grant from 2024

Subject: Prospective PhD student: Circular economy Dear Professor Habib, My name is [your name], and I am a [your current degree or role] at [your institution]. I am applying for a PhD position starting in [term and year]. I read your paper "Life cycle assessment of municipal solid waste management in the Region of Waterloo, Canada." (2026), and it connects closely to my own work on [your research topic]. [One or two sentences on what you did and what you learned.] I also saw your NSERC-funded project "Urban Mining of Critical Metals in Canada: Environmental and Techno-Economic Assessment" (2024), and I would be glad to contribute to work in that direction. Are you accepting new PhD students for [term and year]? I have attached my CV and transcripts, and I would be glad to talk at a time that suits you. Thank you for your time. Kind regards, [your name]