Forest Products and Circular Economy Strategies: A Canadian Perspective

Abstract

The Government of Canada has embraced circular economy and is supporting an increasing number of initiatives in the field. However, implementation examples remain scattered and certain stakeholders are eager to see a greater level of commitment from policy makers. The purpose of this study is to provide a Canadian perspective on how, and to what extent, forest products are compatible with circular economy strategies. This topic was investigated through interviews with 16 Canadian experts in eco-design, circular economy, forest products and/or waste management, with a focus on construction and packaging. Efforts made by forest industries at the manufacturing stage to reduce resource consumption were acknowledged, but the implementation of other circular economy strategies, such as reuse, recycling and energy recovery, is uneven. While there is low-hanging fruit for incremental improvements, such as the processing of recovered lumber in wood panels and not mixing cardboard fibres with other paper streams to avoid downcycling, several barriers to the widespread adoption of the most promising strategies were identified. The experts consulted proposed several solutions to accelerate the deployment of circular economy strategies for forest products, for which government interventions would need to be tailored to the different policy readiness levels (PRLs) observed in the construction and packaging sectors. With circularity having economy-wide implications, setting a clear policy direction at the national level, with a circular economy roadmap for Canada for example, could accelerate coordinated implementation within and across sectors, including forest industries.

The effects of forest therapy on public mental health and circular economy: A policy support model in Japan

“…Local economic development will ultimately help enterprises and residents better protect forest resources and the natural environment. The core issue for policy authorities is to constantly evaluate the effectiveness of policies to determine when appropriate policy adjustments should be made and to balance development across different regions ( 82 ). In addition, the health sector and the economic management sector have different criteria for evaluating the effectiveness of a policy.…”

Identificação das barreiras para redução de resíduos de construção civil por meio de revisão bibliográfica sistemática

“…Alterações climáticas (Mawed et al, 2020); (Narcis et al, 2019) 2 Fonte: Autores Falta de projeto executivo bem elaborado e compatibilizado refere-se à ausência de um projeto executivo, com todos os elementos e detalhes necessários para a execução, em que deve conter todas as informações suficientes para o cumprimento em todas as etapas da obra, em conformidade com as normas da Associação Brasileira de Normas Técnicas (ABNT), de acordo com a Lei 8.666 de 21 de junho de 1993 (Brasil, 1993) Tabela 3 -Barreiras econômicas que impedem a redução de RCC Barreiras Referências Falta de recurso financeiro (Negash et al, 2021) ; (Spišáková et al, 2021) ; (Olanrewaju & Ogunmakinde, 2020); (Bailey et al, 2020); (Ratnasabapathy et al, 2021); (Mawed et al, 2020); (Ling & Nguyen, 2013) ; (de Souza Campos et al, 2013) 8 Falta de retorno econômico com a reciclagem dos RCC (Giorgi et al, 2022) ; (Yu et al, 2021); (Condotta & Zatta, 2021) ; (Negash et al, 2021) ; (Diotti et al, 2021) ; (Bao et al, 2020); (Spišáková et al, 2021) ; (Olanrewaju & Ogunmakinde, 2020) ; (Low et al, 2020); (Bailey et al, 2020); (Ratnasabapathy et al, 2021) ; (Mawed et al, 2020) ; (Liyanage et al, 2019) ; (Mahpour, 2018); (Udawatta et al, 2018) ; (Owolana & Booth, 2016) 16 Custo de implantação de novas tecnologias que diminuem os RCC (Gagnon et al, 2022) ; (Giorgi et al, 2022) ; (Yu et al, 2021); ; (Condotta & Zatta, 2021) ; (Diotti et al, 2021) ; (Bao et al, 2020); (Spišáková et al, 202...…”

“…Medium Density Fiberboard) ou para o carvão vegetal (GAGNON et al, 2022) (Spišáková et al, 2021) ; (Olanrewaju & Ogunmakinde, 2020) ; (Pellegrini et al, 2020) ; (Ratnasabapathy et al, 2021) ; (Owolana & Booth, 2016); (Ling & Nguyen, 2013) 6 Falta de legislação vigente e de incentivo governamental (Giorgi et al, 2022) ; (Liu et al, 2021) ; (Diotti et al, 2021) ; (Negash et al, 2021); (Spišáková et al, 2021) ; (Olanrewaju & Ogunmakinde, 2020); (Pellegrini et al, 2020) ; (Bailey et al, 2020) ; (Ratnasabapathy et al, 2021); (Maekawa et al, 2013) ; (Mawed et al, 2020); (Vidyasekar & Selvan, 2019); (Liyanage et al, 2019) ; (Narcis et al, 2019) ; (Ling & Nguyen, 2013); (Gagnon et al, 2022) ; (Yu et al, 2021); (Condotta & Zatta, 2021); (Bao et al, 2020); (Low et al, 2020 ); (Mahpour, 2018); (Udawatta et al, 2018) ; (Owolana & Booth, 2016) ; Falta de fiscalização de obras (Spišáková et al, 2021) ; (Olanrewaju & Ogunmakinde, 2020) ; (Pellegrini et al, 2020); (Bailey et al, 2020) ; (Ratnasabapathy et al, 2021); (Mawed et al, 2020); (Liyanage et al, 2019) Em relação as barreiras econômicas, o custo de implantação de n...…”

Towards Sustainable Construction: A Systematic Review of Circular Economy Strategies and Ecodesign in the Built Environment

“…Moreover, designers wishing to use ecodesign must be supported by simplifications in the method and effective recognition of the sustainability approach's complexity and importance [90]. Advances in the development of open-source methods can provide early feedback on design decisions and help designers to drive circular building design [110].…”