Page 16 - U4SSC Case study: Circularity to promote local businesses and digitization, June 2020

The two guiding principles of the Waste Strategy are: to consider options that support waste reduction,
re-use, recycling and recovery before final disposal; and to develop policies and opportunities for a
close working relationship. The development of the Waste Strategy sets a course to grow beyond
service delivery for waste collection, processing and disposal and to take a leadership and advocacy
role in working with other municipal, provincial, federal and international stakeholders to support a
shift towards a circular economy.

Introducing circular procurement to the City's purchasing processes follows the waste strategy's
emphasis on the waste hierarchy (re-use/reduction before recycling) and complements the Purchasing
and Material Management Division's (PMMD) Supply Chain Management Transformation Program.
Toronto's circular procurement initiatives have been directed by the city's Government Management
Committee (GMC) and in May 2018, staff reported back to the GMC to provide the informational report
Implementation Plan and Framework for Integrating Circular Economy Approaches into City Procurement
Processes to Support Waste Reduction and Diversion (Framework). The Framework establishes goals,
objectives, measures and a timeline for piloting circular procurements. In November 2019, a mid-
project report will be brought to the City Council and a final report that makes recommendations for
a Citywide Circular Procurement Policy is expected for June 2021.

Promoting circularity

Vision and content

The above Framework will be used to leverage the City of Toronto's significant purchasing power
(approximately 2.055 billion Canadian dollars annually in 2017) to drive waste reduction, economic
growth, and social prosperity through a circular economy approach. It aims to develop an evidence-
based and measurable circular procurement policy.

The Framework, which will be tested through pilots, works to enable the City to achieve the following
circular economy goals:

• To increase the amount of goods and services that are regenerative by design, have lower life cycle
greenhouse gas emissions, are less toxic, and rely less on raw material extraction/consumption.
• To increase the number of city contracts that are procured through a process that considers full
value, life cycle impact including greenhouse gases, resource potential, and maximum utility of
goods and services.
• To introduce the requirement for the re-examination of city contracts from a circular economy lens
prior to issuing solicitations.

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