ÉCOLE DE DESIGN DE L’UQAM
For more than 40 years, the UQAM School of Design and its professors have contributed to the teaching, research and creative development, and promotion of design disciplines in Quebec. Since its inception as a design department in 1974, its original and ambitious undergraduate programs in environmental design and graphic design have continued to enhance awareness for the school and its growing reputation.

GRAPHIC DESIGN PROGRAM
The bachelor’s degree program in graphic design has been developed with an emphasis on a general and transversal (cross-curricular) approach, focusing on creativity and innovation. The program has set the standard over the years, providing the foundation for several generations of graphic designers and illustrators to make a name for themselves in Quebec and internationally.

PACKAGING UQAM
Packaging UQAM started off as a blog in 2004 by Professor Sylvain Allard, mainly to circulate information on UQAM student packaging design projects. The blog also keeps tabs on the latest innovations and creative developments in the packaging field around the world. Packaging UQAM has greatly expanded its distribution since the early days, promoting a collegial approach to creativity with a growing number of professors and universities in many countries.
To stay up to date on packaging projects carried out with Sylvain Allard, please go to the Packaging UQAM blog at: packaginguqam.blogspot.ca

ÉCO ENTREPRISES QUÉBEC
Éco Entreprises Québec (ÉEQ) develops the Schedule of Contributions and collects company contributions, which are then redistributed to finance municipal curbside recycling services in Quebec. ÉEQ also encourages innovation and best practices in order to optimize the recyclable material value chain. To achieve this, ÉEQ cooperates with companies to reduce quantities of materials at the source and encourage the use of recyclable materials, and withmunicipalities and other stakeholders to increase recycling and the economic value of recovered materials.

Created by companies that place containers, packaging, and printed matter in Quebec’s marketplace, ÉEQ is a private non-profit organization accredited byRecyc-Québec in 2005 under the Environment Quality Act. For the past seven years, ÉEQ has been developing projects and tools to help companies adopt ecodesign practices for packaging and printed matter. Here are some of their ecodesign tools that could be used in packaging projects:

OPTIMECO.CA/EN
An ÉEQ online portal presenting fact-based informationon packaging optimization, plus a wide range of tools to support companies as they implement ecodesign initiatives.

OPTIMECO KIT
OptimEco’s information kit complements OptimEco.ca with sound advice for mobilizing an ecodesign initiative and for getting everyone on board right from the start. The kit is intended for ÉEQ contributing companies, as well as their suppliers or manufacturers of containers, packaging, and printed matter.

OPTIMACTION
OptimAction is an interactive tool to help companies discover the benefits of packaging and printed matter optimization initiatives, or to publish their own results. With this tool, users can document their optimization activities and post the benefits in terms of qualitative and quantitative indicators, such as calculated greenhouse gas reductions from optimized packages over their entire life cycles.