What is the Canadian vision for a circular built environment?

Circular Building Trends Across Canada

A circular economy is one that cycles resources through useful lives for as long as possible. For example, a steel beam is used within the structure of a building, then, when that building is demolished, it is used in another building, and when that building is demolished, the beam is melted and forged into something new altogether, and so forth. Learning to recirculate resources is an essential shift that our economy must make in order to avoid runaway climate change since it avoids new resources from being extracted and reduces the GHG emissions associated with that extraction, not to mention it avoids issues of resource scarcity. Knowing this, Canadians are working hard to make that happen. Here we explore some of the action plans that Canadian cities have developed that promote a circular economy.

Toronto, ON

Toronto has a waste management strategy that focuses on building a circular economy, including specifically addressing construction and demolition. In the future, Toronto plans to extend producer responsibility for construction and demolition waste, meaning the producers will be responsible for their materials’ end of life management. This could potentially incentivize construction projects to prioritize design for deconstruction to ensure that materials remain useful once their first life cycle is complete, potentially massively reducing future environmental impacts from the production of equivalent materials during raw extraction

Montreal, QC

Montreal has a climate plan for 2020 to 2030 that has a strong focus on decarbonization as they aim for a carbon neutral city by 2050. The City of Montreal has also said they will help increase the value of building materials salvaged from demolition sites. Adaptis’ decarbonization tool can help people living in Montreal meet their decarbonization goals by providing building owners with cost-effective and environmentally meaningful building decarbonization options.

Vancouver, BC

Vancouver BC is one of the most innovative cities when it comes to circular practices for their built environment. They have conducted studies to better understand the deconstruction value within their city and have a zero-waste by 2040 strategic plan. Similarly to Toronto, Vancouver plans to implement extended producer responsibility programs for construction and demolition, incentivizing building deconstruction and reuse. They also currently have a green demolition by-law which requires deconstruction in certain situations. Vancouver is well poised to be a leader in terms of salvaging and reusing building materials.

Richmond, BC

Richmond BC, located just south of Vancouver BC in Canada, has recently published the Richmond Circular City Strategy with one of their strategic directions focused on the built environment. Richmond’s action plan is based on five strategic directions: Maximizing ecosystem services, regenerative food system, resilient and innovative economy, shared mobility, adaptive built environment, and consumer materials management. In time, this plan will mean the city is not only diverting waste from landfill, but finding innovative ways to reuse building materials salvaged from deconstruction sites

Winnipeg, AB

Winnipeg is currently consulting the public on their Plan 20-50. This plan has circularity embedded within it, including plans to create materials reuse strategies. Their plan is still in the community engagement phase as of late September 2023, and we encourage Winnipeg residents to submit their feedback. At Adaptis, we hope to see their strategies include building deconstruction to preserve building materials and circulate them back into the economy. 

Many other cities in Canada are working towards a more circular and sustainable economy, as well. With continued public pressure and a strong desire for a more sustainable built environment, Canada should be able to create a strong circular economy in its built environment. Adaptis’ salvage assessment tool is able to determine what materials are salvageable within a building slated for demolition, allowing decision-makers to salvage an optimal amount of waste. As circularity within our built environment becomes embedded into our economy, we hope to work together with Canadians to salvage as much material as possible, all while saving money and making the planet a safer and cleaner place. As we continue to push for sustainability, collaboration with tools like Adaptis’ salvage assessment paves the way for comprehensive solution. Interested in what we do? Let’s talk.

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