A circular procurement framework in Toronto

CITY CONTEXT AND POLICY

In 2016, Toronto City Council approved the Long Term Waste Management Strategy and directed the City Manager to form a Cross-Divisional Circular Economy Working Group (the Working Group) to make the City of Toronto the first city in the province with a Circular Economy. Subsequently, Government Management Committee in November 2017 directed the City Manager to report back to Government Management Committee with a strategy for City procurement to drive waste diversion through the Circular Economy.

 

DESCRIPTION OF POLICY

The report provides information on the Circular Economy Procurement Implementation Plan and Framework (the CE Framework) that can be applied within the City’s purchasing process to drive waste reduction, economic growth, and social prosperity. The CE Framework is the result of collaboration and efforts of the Working Group and is supported by their respective Divisions.  The report summarizes work undertaken by the Working Group, stakeholder engagement activities, and timelines for interim and final project reporting. It also describes potential pilot projects that will be explored and includes a jurisdictional scan describing how other governments include elements of a Circular Economy within their procurement processes.

On June 5, 2018 the Government Management Committee considered Implementation Plan and Framework for Integrating Circular Economy Approaches into City Procurement Processes to Support Waste Reduction and Diversion (PDF) and adopted it without amendment. In March 2018 Recycling Council of Ontario co-hosted a workshop with Toronto to demonstrate how procurement links with the circular economy and waste reduction through engaging presentations and sector case studies, as well as other opportunities:

• Variety of workshop exercises on procurement
• Examination of roadmaps that integrate circular economy principles into procurement
• Evidence of benefits and learn how to quantify them in economic, social, and environmental terms
• How resource efficiency and circularity can be delivered in practice

 

WHO’S INVOLVED

Members of the Working Group include: Solid Waste Management Services (Chair), Purchasing and Materials Management Division, Parks, Forestry and Recreation, City Planning, Facilities Management, Economic Development and Culture, Transportation Services, and Toronto Water.

 

MORE INFO

Considerations for developing a circular procurement framework for municipalities 

TOPICS

• Capacity building
• City policies
• Promote polycentric governance
• Public procurement
• Public services

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