With the world’s population growing, the need for food, energy, and various products is rapidly accelerating. However, our resources are not unlimited, and their extraction is often associated with environmental degradation. Moreover, when no longer needed, many products end up in landfills.

Contrary to this linear ‘take-make-waste’ model, the circular economy emphasizes preserving energy, labour, and materials embodied in products. Shifting to a model based on reuse, remanufacturing, refurbishment, and recycling can help reduce the demand for virgin raw materials, generate less waste and greenhouse gas emissions, and limit adverse environmental impacts.

Embracing the circular economy can help Canada foster a more sustainable, resilient, and prosperous future, create new business opportunities, and stimulate innovation and job creation. Through its research, standards development, and collaborative initiatives, CSA Group’s Standards Development Organization helps Canadian industries adopt low-carbon, circular practices, from the design and deconstruction of buildings to reuse and recycling of construction materials, electric vehicle batteries, and plastics and the management of end-of-life products.