About me

Nathalia is an environmental engineer and co-founder of Resolve Analytix, where she helps organizations identify where and how to reduce environmental impacts using data-driven strategies.
She combines technical rigor with real-world applicability, translating complex environmental data into clear insights that support decision-making, cost reduction, and sustainability goals.

Nathalia is an environmental engineer and co-founder of Resolve Analytix, where she helps organizations identify where and how to reduce environmental impacts using data-driven strategies.
Her work focuses on life cycle assessment (LCA), material flow analysis (MFA), and circular economy approaches, with a particular emphasis on healthcare systems and plastics. During her PhD at the University of Pittsburgh (Fulbright/CAPES), Nathalia led large-scale analyses of plastic use across hospital systems, quantifying emissions hotspots and evaluating practical intervention strategies.
She combines technical rigor with real-world applicability, translating complex environmental data into clear insights that support decision-making, cost reduction, and sustainability goals.
Nathalia has published in journals such as Resources, Conservation & Recycling and Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research, and has collaborated with institutions across the United States, Brazil, the UK, and the Netherlands.
Through Resolve Analytix, she works with healthcare organizations and industry partners to move from measurement to action, identifying high-impact opportunities for emissions reduction and circularity.

Publications resulting from Research
Silva de Souza Lima Cano, N., Rutkowski, E.W., Velis, C. A. Circular economy systems analysis of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) plastic packaging by informal recycling in Brazil, Global South: Quality assurance, rejects and value appropriation. Journal of Cleaner Production, 2025.
Petit HJ, Silva de Souza Lima Cano N, Sullivan GA, Sullivan I, Bilec MM, Shah AN. Reducing the Carbon Footprint of a Laparoscopic Appendectomy: A Life Cycle Assessment. Surgery, 187, 2025.
Ana Julieth Calderón Márquez, Nathalia Silva de Souza Lima Cano, Emília Wanda Rutkowski, André Felipe Simões, Beatrice Smyth. How to promote circular economy in the global South: The circular technical
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network framework and the case of Colombia. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, Volume 222, 2025.
Nathalia Silva de Souza Lima Cano, Melanie Marino, Amy L Brooks, Matthew J Eckelman, Melissa M Bilec. Advancing the Circular Economy of Healthcare Plastics: A Systematic Literature Review. Resources, Conservation & Recycling, vol. 219, 2025, doi: 10.1016/j.resconrec.2025.108317.
Alexandra I. Melnyk, Nathalia Silva de Souza Lima Cano, Stephanie Glass Clark, Amanda Artsen, Melissa M Bilec. A Comparative Carbon Footprint and Cost Analysis of Uterine Manipulators for Hysterectomy. Obstetrics & Gynecology, 2025, doi: 10.1097/AOG.0000000000005949.
Silva de Souza Lima Cano N, Engler ID, Mohammadiziazi R, Geremicca F, Lawson D, Drain N, Musahl V, Lesniak BP, Bilec MM. How Can the Environmental Impact of Orthopaedic Surgery Be Measured and Reduced? Using Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction as a Test Case. Clin Orthop Relat Res. 2025 Jan 1;483(1):7-19. doi: 10.1097/CORR.0000000000003242. PMID: 39660662; PMCID: PMC11658741.
Nathalia Silva de Souza Lima Cano, Melissa Marie Bilec. Healthcare plastic waste: A global synthesis of estimates across scales and contexts. Diálogos Socioambientais, vol. 8, no. 21, 2024, pp. 77–81. https://doi.org/10.36942/dialogossocioambientais.v8i21.1179
Chang JH, Woo KP, Silva de Souza Lima Cano N, Bilec MM, Camhi M, Melnyk AI, Gross A, Walsh RM, Asfaw SH, Gordon IO, Miller BT. Does reusable mean green? Comparison of the environmental impact of reusable operating room bed covers and lift sheets versus single-use. Surgeon. 2024 Aug;22(4):236-241. doi: 10.1016/j.surge.2024.05.003. Epub 2024 Jun 10. PMID: 38862376.
Nathalia Silva de Souza Lima Cano, Md. Uzzal Hossain, Melissa Marie Bilec. Environmental impacts of circularity strategies for social distancing plastic shields made of polymethyl methacrylate in the United States. Waste Management & Research, April 2024. https://doi.org/10.1177/0734242X241237
Ed Cook, Nathalia Silva de Souza Lima Cano, Costas A. Velis. Informal recycling sector contribution to plastic pollution mitigation: A systematic scoping review and quantitative analysis of prevalence and productivity. Resources, Conservation & Recycling. July 2024.
Nathalia Silva de Souza Lima Cano, Eleni Iacovidou, Emília Wanda Rutkowski. Typology of municipal solid waste recycling value chains: A global perspective, Journal of Cleaner Production, Volume 336, 2022, 130386, ISSN 0959-6526
Calderón Márquez AJ, Silva de Souza Lima Cano N, Rutkowski EW. Inclusion of Waste Pickers Into Municipal Waste Management Systems: A Comparison Between Colombia and Brazil. The Journal of Environment & Development. 2021;30(4):395-425. doi: 10.1177/10704965211053425.
Jessica Lie Sakamoto, Nathalia Silva de Souza Lima Cano, Jefferson Faria Dionisio de Oliveira & Emília Wanda Rutkowski (2021) How much for an inclusive and solidary selective waste collection? A Brazilian study case, Local Environment, 26:8, 985-1007, DOI: 10.1080/13549839.2021.1952965.
Silva de Souza Lima, N; Mancini, SD (2017). Integration of informal recycling sector in Brazil and the case of Sorocaba City. Waste Management & Research, 35(7), 721–729. https://doi.org/10.1177/0734242X17708050.