Emily Whitehead, a master’s student in environmental science at the University of Guelph, has a new idea for turning one of Canada’s most invasive plants, phragmites, into a commercial good.
Whitehead’s ReedSycle won her first place in the graduate category at the University of Guelph’s annual Project SOY Plus competition on March 12. Her project entry is a pitch for a circulareconomy venture that transforms the pesky phragmites, a perennial grass, into a sustainable source of commercial silica.
The idea came to her in one of her master’s program classes.
