Waste Reduction Week in Canada — the country’s most successful waste reduction public awareness campaign engaging Canadians each year since 2001 — is now being extended beyond the third week of October, to Circular Economy Month. The goal is to raise greater awareness about the benefits of the circular economy and to celebrate circular innovations.
During the month of October, Canadians are encouraged to learn about the circular economy, celebrate individual and collective efforts, embrace circular solutions, and encourage others to take action. Get started by checking out the campaign promotional video below. Help promote the campaign by sharing this video to your community, stakeholders, colleagues, and peers. Share on social media using the campaign hashtag #CircularEconomyMonth.
The third week of October continues as Waste Reduction Week in Canada, upholding tradition of focusing on daily themes related to specific waste streams and the waste reduction component of a circular economy. The remainder of the month will focus on introducing the concept of circular economy and amplifying its broader social, environmental, and economic benefits, communicating a different theme each week.
As part of the activities underway, a new documentary called “Scrap” is a love letter to the things we use in our daily lives. Through deeply personal and surprisingly moving stories—a Thai family living in an abandoned airplane, recycling workers in Delhi picking apart discarded electronics, a farmer in South Dakota building sculptures from scrap metal—the strange beauty of end-of-life objects comes into focus.
Together these stories convey a deeper environmental message about the tragic rise of overconsumption, disposables and planned obsolescence. When objects are built cheaply and made to be thrown away, we all too quickly lose the instinct and ability to repair or recycle. Scrap confronts big topics with a gentle nostalgia and a quiet pace. You’ll never look at junk in quite the same way again.
For further information and a comprehensive list of Waste Reduction Week events, visit:
