Terms and definitions for circular economy in the built environment

Note: As requested by the responsible SDO, this NOI being reissued as the standard was in the initial stages of development for more than 12 months. An additional comment period of November 21 to December 12, 2023 (originally published on December 20, 2022).

The proposed standard will provide common terminology and definitions for the circular built environment ecosystem and its components along the full life cycle of construction. The standard will include physical assets (i.e., buildings and infrastructure), and will consider how these fit together in the broader real estate and urban planning space (geospatial considerations). This will enable private and public actors to move in a coherent manner towards circularity in line with key national priorities such as decarbonization and Canada’s net-zero carbon emissions economy by 2050. It will improve understanding on how circular economy may help enhance the design of cities, ensure compact communities, and enhance design of transportation systems to support reverse logistics.

Background:

Circular economy in the built environment encompasses all aspects of our lives: buildings, distribution systems that provide water and electricity, and roads, bridges, and transportation systems. It includes the full life cycle of construction, including design, planning and procuring, building, operation, maintenance, and deconstruction in a manner in which waste is a resource that is not discarded to landfill. In contrast to the existing linear approach in which materials are landfilled at the end of life, the circular built environment maintains value by using materials for much longer (extending the life) and then reusing, repurposing or recycling them, just as nature does. There is no real waste in nature because waste products become the basis of new materials and life. This new approach may encompass other systems like energy, water, carbon, etc. such that they are circular as well and can go beyond materiality of the built environment.

There is currently a lack of awareness, understanding and consensus amongst organizations regarding definitions of the circular economy in the built environment along the full life cycle of construction and circular thinking is currently in the early stages of development within Canada. To successfully achieve circularity in the built environment, organizations will be required to adopt systems-thinking as new business models will need to be developed.

The understanding of what is ‘circular’ varies from organization to organization with no consensus on definitions or system boundaries. At the same time, there is the need to define whether the circular ecosystem of the built environment will focus on materials and resource management issues only, or will uphold circularity in all ways to also include energy, water, carbon and other systems that should be circular.

Circular economy is a systems-based approach for achieving objectives such as decarbonization, net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, lower embodied carbon, waste reduction and low-carbon public procurement, among others.