Get involved in the circular economy

All Canadians—individuals, communities, and businesses—can play a part in building a sustainable circular economy. Learn how individuals and businesses can use circular economy strategies, and find funding opportunities and resources below.

Strategies for individuals, communities and businesses

For individuals

We’re all working towards a greener, more prosperous future. Being part of a circular economy doesn’t have to be difficult. As Canadians, we’re finding creative ways to:

• Repurpose items
• Reduce food waste
• Repair things instead of throwing them out

Here are some ways you can help:

• use sharing programs like tool libraries, vehicle and bike shares, and clothing swaps
• buy products made from recycled materials
• fix items or buy refurbished products instead of new ones
• support businesses that will take back their packaging or products after they are used
• reuse or upcycle used household items
• look for package-free and zero-waste options

Check out other ways you can help, like aiming for zero plastic waste.

For communities

Canadian communities are leading in the circular economy through the development of innovative programs and policies, becoming models to other locations.

Community program and policy innovations across Canada include:

• zero waste strategies and targets
• clothing diversion plans and single-use item reduction strategies
• reduce and reuse programs
• repair hubs (e.g., sewing, bicycles)
• tool lending libraries and sharing centres
• circular economy roadmaps
• circular procurement frameworks
• building communities of practice
• circular food economy strategies

Do you want to spearhead a circular economy initiative in your community? Check out these resources for local governments:

• Canadian Circular Cities and Regions Initiative
  • The Circular Cities and Regions Initiative (CCRI) helps local governments make their communities more circular through:
    • Knowledge sharing
    • Guidance
    • Opportunities for peer-to-peer exchange
• Share Reuse Repair Action Guide
  • This guide, created by Share, Reuse, Repair Initiative with funding from Environment and Climate Change Canada, supports local governments in reducing waste and emissions while advancing affordability, resilience, and local jobs.
• A guide to catalyzing a circular economy in your community
  • The Green Municipal Fund created this resource to help communities:
    • Develop a vision and pathways to circularity
    • Explore community strengths and overcome challenges
    • Scale up existing circular activities

For businesses

Many Canadian innovators and industries are already leading the way, using circular business models to save money, improve efficiency, and open up new market opportunities.

Across all sectors and industries we’re finding ways to re-imagine how to use our resources. Canadian businesses are seizing circular economy opportunities to:

• design products for a longer life
• use recycled material
• recover and refurbish used products, and
• repurpose and sell waste materials.

From coast to coast, we are seeing new technologies and innovative ideas that:

• increase resource productivity
• create new jobs
• reduce environmental impacts
• make supply chains greener, and
• use clean technology to build a sustainable and competitive Canadian economy.

Circular economy in a product’s life cycle

At various points of a product’s life cycle, there can be ways to include circular economy strategies. For example:

Design

In a circular economy, a product is designed to be durable and reparable. Its end-of-life is also planned for by its original manufacturers to be taken apart or recycled once it is no longer usable in its original form.

The goal of circular design is to:

• build products for a longer life
• use highly recyclable materials
• eliminate the use of harmful chemicals and substances
• include processes to refurbish or remanufacture used products, and
• offer collection points for products at the end of their life.

Manufacturing

There are circular opportunities at every stage of the production cycle: from the way raw materials are extracted, processed into goods, and used by consumers, to how they are eventually refurbished, remanufactured, or recycled.

When we find ways to keep the value of the parts that make up the things we use, we end up with more sustainable possibilities to use products longer and create more value.

Recycling

Businesses can hold on to the value of their materials when they recycle costly resources like metals and alloys—the basic, yet expensive components that make up many of the products we use. Using recycled materials can cost less than extracting, transporting, and processing new materials for products.

Waste

Waste materials can be an opportunity to create a profit. Some businesses’ sole mission is to find ways to repurpose waste products. For example, many companies recover and process valuable materials from:

• Industrial wastewater
• Scrap building materials
• Organic-waste products
• Electronic waste.

Funding opportunities

Do you have business ideas, projects, or research related to the circular economy?

Explore some of the latest Government of Canada funding opportunities:

• Agricultural Clean Technology Program
  • Aims to develop and adopt of clean technology to achieve a low-carbon economy and promote sustainable growth in Canada’s agriculture and agri-food sector
• BDC - Business Development Bank of Canada
  • Advice and resources for implementing a circular economy approach in your business
• Industrial Research Assistance Program
  • Helps small and medium-sized businesses in Canada develop and commercialize technologies
• Innovative Solutions Canada
  • Supports businesses in the early development, testing and validation of prototypes, as well as preparing a pathway to commercialization
• Natural Resources Canada funding opportunities
  • Includes funding programs for critical minerals, the building and forestry sectors, among others
• Supports for starting a business
  • Various funding programs for business owners including the Business Benefits Finder, and links to Canada’s Regional Development Agencies
  • To see examples of past funding check out “Success Stories” on the Regional Development Agencies webpage

Resources

Learn more about a selection of circular economy initiatives in Canada:

• Accelerating Circular Economy (ACE)
• Canada Plastics Pact
• Canadian Circular Textiles Consortium
• CERIEC
• Circular Cities and Regions Initiative
• Circular Construction Canada (Generate Canada)
• Circular Innovation Council
• City of Toronto – Working Towards a Circular Economy
• City of Vancouver – Zero Waste 2040
• La Ville de Montréal
• Light House
• National Zero Waste Council
• Québec Circulaire
• Smart Prosperity Institute