To reduce landfilling of waste and waste, Montreal intends to increase the share of the circular economy on its territory. Currently, only 3% of resources consumed annually in Montreal are reused and the City wants to double this rate by 2030 and increase it to 17% in 2050.
As part of the Montreal Climate Summit, which takes place at the Old Port on Tuesday and Wednesday, Montreal has developed a roadmap to guide businesses and municipal services in the strategies to adopt over the coming years. To determine its “circularity index” of 3%, the City called on the Dutch organization Circle Economy.
The circular economy translates into initiatives that allow a company like Still Good to recover spent grains from microbreweries to make pastries. The City itself reused the wood from ash trees felled due to the borer to make furniture and shavings used to improve the soil. For the development of Frédéric-Back park and the creation of paths and the design of benches, it recycled 300,000 tonnes of materials.
Responsible for ecological transition and environment issues on the City’s executive committee, Marie-Andrée Mauger recognizes that with only 3% of the 57 million tonnes of resources consumed being reintroduced into the Montreal production system, the challenge will be significant. . But according to her, the effects of the circular economy are not trivial, especially since the unbridled use of natural resources creates strong pressure on biodiversity. “According to the Circle Economy organization, if we double the global circularity index – which is 8.6% in 2020 – we would be able to limit global warming to below two degrees,” she explains. . “This is why Montreal is aligning itself with this target to achieve a long-term rate of 17% in 2050.”
According to Mme Mauger, Montreal and Munich are the only cities in the world to have measured their circularity index.
The City has targeted five sectors with a strong potential for circularity to be prioritized, namely the biofood sector, construction, textiles, plastics and mobility. For textiles, for example, there is no system for recovering these materials from industries, businesses and institutions. As for textiles coming from citizens, only clothing and fabrics in good condition can be recovered by the organizations, the others being sent to landfill.
It is through financial assistance programs, such as the Circular Economy Fund, created in partnership with Recyc-Québec, that the City hopes to encourage businesses and organizations on the path to circularity. This fund has also made it possible to stimulate circular economy projects such as that of the NPO Renaissance and Vestechpro aimed at the reuse of textile fiber or that of Brique Recyc, which makes it possible to recover and reuse bricks on construction sites, indicates Marie-Andrée Mauger.
At the same time, the City has also developed a responsible procurement plan for all of its services in order to encourage local purchases or those that take into account social or environmental considerations. Between 2022 and 2023, the City maintains that purchases from social economy businesses increased by 66% to reach $62 million.