Road Map for a Circular Toronto

The City of Toronto has adopted a 10-Year Circular Economy Road Map (Circular Toronto), marking a milestone in rethinking how we consume and manage resources. 

Over the next decade, Circular Toronto is implementing the City’s circular economy transition to reduce waste and encourage sustainable consumption. This Road Map will deliver incentives, supports and programs for residents and businesses that make circular solutions easy and accessible. It will also lead by example, embedding circular practices into its own operations and addressing barriers to create an environment for businesses and communities to pursue circular innovations.

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

 

A graphic showing local storefronts that read from left to right vintage, local grocery, repair cafe and library with corresponding labels pointing to reusable cups, car sharing, zero waste grocery store, repair and reuse programs, bike share, neighbourhood exchange, community garden and composting, food upcycling, material reuse hub, innovation hub, deconstruction, mass timber building, adaptive reuse and building retrofit, book and instrument rental, and modular housing.
Illustration of businesses and Toronto community, showing the circular economy at work.

The City launched the Circular Economy Road Map project in early 2024. The project was completed in four phases. Each phase involved comprehensive engagement with interested parties, including Toronto residents, industry subject matter experts, City staff and the project’s Community Advisory Committee.

Timeline

Phase 1

The Phase 1 Circular Economy Road Map Report provides information about the activities and outcomes of the work completed from April to September 2024, which focused on:

  • Validating Toronto’s circular economy vision, goals and indicators with the community and industry
  • Developing a set of Guiding Principles for subsequent phases of the project, including implementation of the Circular Economy Road Map over the next ten years

Phase 2

The Phase 2 Circular Economy Road Map Report provides information about the activities and outcomes of the work completed from September 2024 to January 2025, which focused on:

  • Developing current state assessments to identify and analyze the specific factors that influence consumption and waste across the three target sectors (i.e., food system, construction, waste management)
  • Identifying the key challenges faced by Toronto to achieving a circular economy

Phase 3

The Phase 3 Circular Economy Road Map Report provides information about the activities and outcomes of the work completed from January to June 2025, which focused on:

  • Identifying a list of options that could advance circularity in the unique context of Toronto
  • Refining and prioritizing actions for inclusion in the 10-year Circular Economy Road Map based on feedback received from internal and external interest groups

Phase 4

  • The Phase 4 report will be available in early 2026.

The Community Advisory Committee (CAC) was a panel of community members and residents who were selected through a civic lottery to provide feedback, opinions and guidance to the City on the Road Map project.

The CAC met virtually four times over the course of the project to review and provide feedback and input at key decision points throughout the research and development of the Circular Economy Road Map, working closely with the City’s project team and one another. CAC members were compensated with an honorarium for their contribution to the project. The input from CAC members helped ensure that the final Circular Economy Road Map was informed by the diverse lived experiences of Torontonians.

As part of its journey towards a circular economy, the City has completed a research project called Baselining for a Circular Toronto. Check out the Highlights Summary Document for key findings from the study.

The Baselining for a Circular Toronto project is one of the first of its kind in Canada and explores the current state of circularity in Toronto. The study:

  • proposes a vision for what a Circular Toronto could look like
  • highlights opportunities for advancing the circular economy in key sectors
  • provides circular economy goals that could guide Toronto’s work
  • establishes indicators that could be used to measure success.

Baselining for a Circular Toronto engaged more than 150 key stakeholders, including City staff (from approximately 20 divisions), the public Circular Economy Working Group, other orders of government and government agencies.

The project involved three phases:

  1.  A Landscape Analysis, which assessed the current state of circularity in Toronto and identified three sectors with the greatest potential for circular economy interventions: waste management, construction and the food system. A Landscape Analysis brings together different types of data and information to better understand the current state of circularity and helps to identify where the barriers or opportunities lie in accelerating the circular economy. There is also an appendix with more details.
  2. A Material Flow Analysis and Business as Usual Analysis focused on the three sectors identified in phase 1. A Material Flow Analysis is a way of visualizing how resources are consumed, processed and disposed of in each sector. Material Flow Analysis highlight that waste is a design and consumption problem, not just a processing/resource recovery problem, and help to point out problems in our linear economy where circular economy interventions can make a positive impact. A Business as Usual Analysis is a way to understand what material consumption and waste generation will look like for each key sector 10 years in the future if no action is taken.
  3. A final Full Report and Highlights Summary Document, which outlined the key results of the study, proposed circular goals and indicators, and identified key stakeholders required to move Toronto towards a circular economy.

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