All around the world, waste is piling up, and landfills are running low on capacity. Large and growing cities are on track to generate even more waste, unless we undergo a fundamental shift: a society-wide transformation to the circular economy.
We spoke with Meaghan Davis, Manager of Incubation & Design at the City of Toronto, about how the City’s 10-year Road Map for a Circular Toronto is setting out steps for addressing the waste problem and achieving a city-wide transition to a closed-loop system.
What inspired the City of Toronto to adopt the 10-year Road Map for a Circular Toronto?
The City of Toronto’s efforts to develop a Circular Economy Road Map are rooted in the knowledge that Toronto needs a fundamental shift in how we approach the waste problem.
Toronto is one of North America’s fastest-growing cities and the largest city in Canada. Our people and businesses are significant consumers of materials and goods, a majority of which end up in landfills that are running out of capacity. At our current pace, we estimate that the total amount of waste generated in Toronto will increase by another 20% in only five years.
Toronto has made great progress toward reducing waste and increasing diversion of the materials managed through municipal collections. However, Toronto manages less than half of the waste generated in the economy, and years of efforts to increase City diversion have made it clear that the root of the garbage problem lies outside of the waste management sector. It requires a society-wide transformation to a circular economy.
Toronto’s new 10-year Road Map, Circular Toronto, sets the City on a path to not only tackle the garbage problem but also spark innovation, create jobs, address climate change, and reduce costs related to waste management.
It was shaped by valuable input from residents, Indigenous Peoples, industry, and peer cities around the world, including London, Glasgow, Rotterdam, and members of the Canadian Circular Cities and Regions Initiative.
Road Map actions can support the City in adapting to trade uncertainties and affordability concerns, with the circular economy offering a framework for enabling supply chains and businesses to become more resilient by decoupling operations from the extraction of natural resources, increasing material security, and reducing exposure to price volatility.
Beyond supply chain considerations, circular solutions offer a pathway to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that cannot be addressed by the renewable energy transition alone, while circular business models can deliver jobs and skills building, innovation, new business partnerships, and pathways for residents to consume more sustainably.
What are the five Strategic Directions of the framework, and why are frameworks important for advancing the circular economy?
The Road Map is organized around five Strategic Directions that provide the framework for implementation:
- Inviting everyone to participate in Toronto’s circular economy transition
- Accelerating the growth of Toronto circular businesses
- Showing the benefits of circularity through City operations
- Expanding circular opportunities in every Toronto neighbourhood
- Collaborating with other governments to accelerate circularity
Through this framework, the Road Map will deliver incentives, supports, and programs for residents and businesses that make circular solutions easy and accessible. The City will also lead by example by embedding circular practices into our own operations and addressing barriers to create an environment for businesses and communities to pursue circular innovations.
Frameworks for the circular economy transition are important because society-wide transformations cannot be achieved by governments acting alone. We all have a role to play in building a more resilient, connected, and climate-friendly future. Circular Toronto aims to be a guiding framework for that change.
What do you consider to be your biggest success in developing and launching Toronto’s Circular Economy Road Map? Can you share any stories of impact your work has had that have surprised you?
Toronto has been working on its circular economy transition for many years, and so the process of developing the Road Map included identifying circular initiatives already underway that we can build upon and celebrate. Doing this was a fantastic opportunity to learn not only about the impact of the City’s work but also the incredible creativity, ingenuity, and commitment of circular innovators in Toronto.
The City’s Women4ClimateTO initiative is an excellent example: this program supports women entrepreneurs who are developing bold and innovative climate solutions, including circular products and services. The 2025 pitch competition winner and runners-up were all circular and regenerative businesses whose solutions are driving innovation in circular consumer goods, architecture, and building materials.
Our case studies also highlighted the scale of participation in the sharing economy in our city: for example, on an average day at the Toronto Public Library (TPL), Torontonians borrow nearly 42,000 physical items, including musical instruments and tech kits; almost 34,000 electronic items; and make use of TPL’s technology services nearly 24,000 times, including visits to a Digital Innovation Hub to print, scan, design, and record.
Circular Toronto features several case studies that provide tangible examples of what we mean by circular initiatives, while also highlighting the benefits of circularity. We invite readers to take a look at the strategy and learn about the great work already underway in our city.
What are some of the challenges faced by Toronto in achieving a circular economy? How does the Road Map help address these challenges?
Transitioning to a circular economy requires systems thinking: circularity is a comprehensive, long-term endeavour that benefits from alignment across municipal, provincial, and federal governments to enhance interconnected environmental, social, and economic systems. Building that alignment is a complex challenge, made more difficult today by the myriad economic and social pressures facing our community.
To address this, the Road Map takes a whole-of-city approach, which will also be required for its implementation, mobilizing interdisciplinary expertise and programmatic and policy levers throughout the municipal government.
During the first three years, the City’s focus will be on establishing the groundwork for the circular economy transition, as well as a framework to measure and report on progress. Through early efforts to create an enabling environment for systems change, the City’s goal is to shift from planning and piloting to deep integration in later years of implementation, normalizing circularity, expanding access to its benefits, and scaling up what works across the city.
Are there any upcoming advancements or initiatives to the Circular Economy Road Map you’d like to share?
With the adoption of the Circular Economy Road Map, the City of Toronto was proud to launch a second round of funding for small businesses through the Circular Food Innovators Fund in January 2026.
This program, first launched in 2024, provides grant funding for reuse system projects that replace single-use and takeaway items. It recognizes that Toronto businesses are key change agents in the circular economy transition. Businesses provide the products, services, and solutions that make it possible for other businesses as well as Toronto consumers to participate in a circular economy.
The Circular Food Innovators Fund was designed to help de-risk the adoption of circular business models by providing direct financial support to businesses that are ready to lead by example.
In the second round, which had an application deadline of March 1, 2026, grant recipients who have creative ideas to deliver additional activities that will help grow Toronto’s green and circular food economy—and create jobs for the future—may be eligible to access additional Green Workforce Development funding. The City of Toronto will announce the latest cohort of Circular Food Innovators Fund grant recipients in Summer 2026.
Looking ahead, what are your hopes for the circular economy in Toronto over the next decade, and how do you envision contributing to this vision? How can other organizations help?
Toronto faces numerous pressing challenges—from access to affordable housing, nutritious food, and public transit to global trade and geopolitical and climate-related impacts on our broader economy. While circular practices are not a solution to every challenge, they are an important source of innovation, resilience, and resource conservation
Transitioning to a circular economy also offers an opportunity to support reconciliation. The circular economy is a pathway to preserve lands and waters, restore the health of ecosystems, and create regenerative systems for all living things. The City acknowledges that these are values that have been practiced by Indigenous Peoples since time immemorial and that circularity is not a new or Western concept.
As such, circularity is not only about adopting new practices, it also involves recognizing the importance of ancestral knowledge and Indigenous values, as well as securing the ability for Indigenous Peoples to practice traditions and conserve cultural heritage.
Realizing our vision to become Ontario’s first circular city depends on all of us. This Road Map lays the groundwork, but its success will be shaped by the choices we all make every day. For federal, provincial, and local governments, this can involve working together to create the enabling conditions for businesses, industry, and communities to embark on a circular transition.
Large and small businesses can unlock the potential of circular finance and business models, prioritize innovative design and production, and find new ways to access, use, and reuse materials. Standards authorities can establish circular metrics and indicators to measure progress toward the circular economy. Education and research institutes can drive knowledge creation, innovation, and equip workers with the skills required for a just circular transition. Community organizations can support a more equitable transition through participation in decision-making, and residents can reduce overconsumption and drive demand for circular products and services.
As the City moves from planning to action, everyone must find their place in this transformation.
This story was featured in Circular Economy Magazine:
