Date: February 2026
Around the world, policymakers are showing a growing interest in circular economy policies to reduce the negative impacts of resource extraction, resource use and waste disposal. Addressing these challenges effectively requires coordinated and multi-level policy action.
Canada’s circularity rate—defined as the share of recycled materials in circulation as a share of total material consumption— is lower than the global average and well behind leaders like the Netherlands and Italy. One of the barriers to a circular economy in Canada is its jurisdictional complexity, which can result in fragmented and poorly harmonized policies.
This paper aims to support more harmonized policymaking by framing Canada’s circular economy policy landscape. It describes methods used to develop an inventory of existing circular economy policy in Canada and presents findings from this inventory to provide a snapshot of the country’s current CE policies at the municipal, provincial/territorial and national levels.
What this means for Canada
This inventory could help governments better align circular economy policies and speed up Canada’s transition to a more resource-efficient economy.
While current efforts focus on high-impact sectors such as construction, transportation, food and agriculture, and electronics, there is room to strengthen the broader ecosystem for circular business models. This includes better data, business support, fiscal tools and research and development.
Future updates to the inventory could assess policy effectiveness, track trends over time and improve coverage in northern and territorial regions.
Funding acknowledgement: This working paper was funded by the University of Calgary’s Canadian Climate Policy Partnership (C2P2), led by Dr. Jennifer Winter. Read more about the C2P2 and its aims here. The Smart Prosperity Institute partnered with the Circular Economy Leadership Canada to develop the inventory.
The Clean Economy Working Paper Series disseminates findings of ongoing environmental and clean economy work conducted by researchers from a range of disciplines. These working papers are meant to make results of relevant scholarly work available in a preliminary form. Although these papers have not undergone a peer-review process, they meet general standards of scholarly excellence. The views expressed in these working papers are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Smart Prosperity Institute.
