Kate Parizeau

I am a social scientist who uses waste management as a lens through which to investigate complex systems of social organization and human exchanges with the environment. Waste is a value-laden construct which intersects with a diversity of social hierarchies, cultural systems, everyday practices, and institutions. In my research, I used mixed methods to investigate waste, its environmental impacts, how it is generated and managed, the lives of waste workers, and the socio-cultural and governance-based structures that inform waste-related practices and infrastructures. I prioritize community-engaged methodologies in my scholarship and teaching.

My research interests are centred on the following interrelated themes:

• Waste management systems and planning
• Critical waste studies and discard studies
• Informality, urban inequality, and social difference
• Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SOTL)
• Ethical academic praxis and mental health in the academe

• GEOG*1200 Society and Space
• GEOG*3050 Development and the City
• GEOG*4200 Seminar in Urban Geography
• GEOG*6450 Development Geography
• IDEV*4300 Partnership and Community Development Practice

*Everitt, H. & Parizeau, K. (2026). "Our Food Future: A regional food circularity case study from Canada." Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development, 15(2), 143-158.

Haines, J., Parizeau, K., Eckert, K.F., Hayashi, F., Takemi, Y., Helmyati, S., Lukito, W., Principato, L., Toni, M., Torres, N., De Jesús-Jacintos, D. & Slusser, W. (2026). "Young adults’ perceptions of sustainable diets: A comparison across five high- and middle-income countries." Challenges, 17(1), 5.

Eckert, K.F., Agostinelli, J., Laila, A., *Alexander, C., Parizeau, K., Von Massow, M., Duncan, A.M., Hesketh, K.D., Ma, D.W.L. & Haines, J. (2025). "Feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary impact of 'Supper Heroes', a family-based sustainable diet intervention." Appetite, 107849.

Eckert, K.F., Parizeau, K. & Haines, J. (2025). "Sustainable diet perceptions among Canadian young adults: a qualitative study." British Food Journal, 127(13), 190-207.

Laila, A., Gallant, M., Bain, M., Alexander, C., Reis, L., Welboren, A., von Massow, M., Parizeau, K., Walton, K., Ma, D.W.L. & Haines, J. (2024). "Household food waste intervention is feasible, acceptable, and effective." Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, 56(2), 110-117.

Parizeau, K. (2024). "The dangers of rationalizing temporary foreign worker programs as a solution to food waste." Geoforum, 148, 103911.

*Bain, M., Soligo, D., van der Werf, P. & Parizeau, K. (2024). "The limitations of an informational campaign to reduce household food waste at the community scale." Cleaner Waste Systems, 9(100167).

*Vander Vennen, R. and Parizeau, K. (2023). “Beyond Charity? Insights on the Upcycle Kitchen: A Food Rescue Work Integration Social Enterprise in Guelph, ON.” Journal of Social Entrepreneurship. [Vander Vennen, Parizeau 2023 Accepted version]

Parizeau, K. (2022). “Uneven Learning Landscapes Ahead: Instructor Perspectives on Undergraduate Student Mental Health.” Canadian Journal of Higher Education, 52(2), 67-80.

Laila, A., von Massow, M., Bain, M., Parizeau, K., & Haines, J. (2022). “Impact of COVID-19 on food waste behaviour of families: Results from household waste composition audits.” Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, 82(A).

Parizeau, K., von Massow, M., & Martin, R. (2021). “Directly observing household food waste generation using composition audits in a Canadian municipality.” Waste Management, 135, 229-233. [Parizeau et al 2021 Accepted version]

Carroll, N., Sadowski, A., Parizeau, K., von Massow, M., Wallace, A., Kira Jewell, David W.L. Ma, Andrea C. Buchholz, Alison M. Duncan, Brianne Chan, Jess Haines (2021). “Food Skills: Associations with Diet Quality and Food Waste among Canadian Parents.” Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, 53 (5), 371-379.

Carroll, N., Wallace, A., Jewell, K., Darlington, G., Ma, D., A. Duncan, K. Parizeau, M. von Massow, and J. Haines. (2020). “Association between diet quality and food waste in Canadian families: a cross-sectional study.” Nutrition Journal, 19: 54.

*Millar, S., Parizeau, K., & Fraser, Evan D.G. (2020). “The limitations of using wasted food to feed hungry people.” Journal of Hunger & Environmental Nutrition, 15(4), 574-584. [Millar, Parizeau, Fraser 202 Accepted version]

*Rondeau, S., Stricker, S., Kozachenko, C., & Parizeau, K. (2020). “Understanding motivations for volunteering in food security and food upcycling projects.” Social Sciences, 9 (3), 27.

*Hodgins, K. and Parizeau, K. (2020). “Farm-to-fork... and beyond? A call to incorporate food waste into food systems research.” Food and Foodways, 28 (1), 43-60.

*Kinach, L., Parizeau, K., & Fraser, E. (2020). “Do Food Donation Tax Credits for Farmers Address Food Loss / Waste and Food Insecurity? A case study from Ontario.” Agriculture and Human Values, 37, 383–396.

*Van Bemmel, A., & Parizeau, K. (2020). “Is it food or is it waste? The materiality and relational agency of food waste across the value chain.” Journal of Cultural Economy, 13(2), 207-220.

von Massow, M., Parizeau, K., Gallant, M., Wickson, M., Haines, J., David W.L. Ma, Angela Wallace, Nicholas Carroll, Alison Duncan. (2019). “Valuing the multiple impacts of household food waste.” Frontiers in Nutrition, 6 (Article 143), 17 pp.

Levac, L., Parizeau, K., Varghese, J., Morton, M., Jackson, E., & Hawkins, L. (2018). “Towards a Framework for Building Community-University Resilience Research Agendas.” Social Sciences, 7 (12).

DeLorenzo, A., Parizeau, K., & von Massow, M. (2019). "Regulating Ontario's Circular Economy Through Food Waste Legislation." Society and Business Review, 14 (2), 200-216.

Szoke, T. and Parizeau, K. (2019). "Community-based Public Art and Gentrification in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside." Geohumanities, 5(1), 157-177. [Szoke, Parizeau 2019 Accepted version]

Fraser, C. and Parizeau, K. (2018). "Waste management as foodwork: A feminist food studies approach to household food waste." Canadian Food Studies, 5 (1), 39-62.

Wittmer, J. and Parizeau, K. (2018). "Informal recyclers' health inequities in Vancouver, BC." New Solutions: A Journal of Environmental and Occupational Health Policy, 28 (2), 321-343.

Pacheco-Vega, R. and Parizeau, K. (2018). "Doubly-engaged ethnography: Opportunities and challenges when working with vulnerable communities." International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 17 (1), 1-13.

Parizeau, K., Shillington, L., Hawkins, R., Sultana, F., Mountz, A., Beverley Mullings, Linda Peake (2016). “Breaking the silence: A feminist call to action.” The Canadian Geographer, 60 (2), pp.192-204. [Parizeau et al 2016 Accepted version]

Mullings, B., Peake, L., & Parizeau, K. (2016). “Cultivating an ethic of wellness in Geography” (Special Issue Introduction). The Canadian Geographer, 60 (2), pp.161-167.

Parizeau, K. (2016). “Witnessing urban change: Insights from informal recyclers in Vancouver, BC .” Urban Studies, pre-print version available online. [Parizeau 2017 Accepted version]

Wittmer, J. & Parizeau, K. (2016). “Surviving neoliberal urbanism: Informal recyclers' geographies of survival in Vancouver, BC.” Applied Geography, 66, pp.92-99.

Parizeau, K. (2015). "Urban political ecologies of informal recyclers' health in Buenos Aires, Argentina." Health & Place, 33, pp. 67-74. [Parizeau 2015-1 Accepted version]

Parizeau, K. (2015). "Re-representing the city: Waste and public space in Buenos Aires, Argentina in the late 2000s," Environment and Planning A, 47(2), pp. 284-299. [Parizeau-2 2015 Accepted version]

Parizeau, K. & Lepawsky, J. (2015). "Legal orderings of waste in built spaces." International Journal of Law in the Built Environment, 7(1). [Parizeau, Lepawsky 2015 Accepted version]

Parizeau, K. (2015). "When assets are vulnerabilities: An assessment of informal recyclers' livelihood strategies in Buenos Aires, Argentina," World Development, 67, 161-173. [Parizeau 2015-3 Accepted version]

Parizeau, K., von Massow, M., & Martin, R. (2015). "Household-level dynamics of food waste production and related beliefs, attitudes, and behaviours in a municipality in Southwestern Ontario," Waste Management, 35, pp. 207-217. [Parizeau et al 2015 Accepted version]

Parizeau, K. (2013). "Formalization beckons: a baseline of informal recycling work in Buenos Aires, 2007-2011." Environment and Urbanization, 25(2), pp. 501-521.

Parizeau, K., Maclaren, V. & Chanthy, L. (2008). "Budget sheets and buy-in: Financing community-based waste management in Siem Reap, Cambodia." Environment and Urbanization, 20(2), 445-463.

Parizeau, K., Maclaren, V. & Chanthy, L. (2006). "Waste Characterization as an Element of Waste Management Planning: Lessons learned from a study in Siem Reap, Cambodia." Resources Conservation and Recycling, 49(2), 110-128.

Luginaah, I., Jerrett, M., Elliott, S., Eyles, J., Parizeau, K., Birch, S., Abernathy, T., Veenstra, G., Hutchison, B., & Giovis, C. (2001). "Health profiles of Hamilton: Spatial characterisation of neighbourhoods for health investigations." GeoJournal, 53(2), 135-147.

Are you interested in exploring the social dimensions of waste in Canada? I welcome inquiries from prospective MA students who are passionate about the social science of waste systems and are eager to contribute to community-based research.

My research examines the social life of waste, and I’m interested in supervising projects on topics such as: food waste and food insecurity, the gendered dynamics of waste systems, circular economy discourses, waste-related labour practices, the governance of waste flows in Canada, and other related topics.

I prioritize applicants with employment or volunteer experience in waste-related sectors, community organizations, food systems, or environmental initiatives. Please note that I am currently considering MA applications only, and am not considering PhD applications at this time.