The District of Squamish has received just over $290,000 in funding from the province for its Circular Economy Trailblazer Program (CETP).
With funding from B.C.’s Rural Economic Diversification and Infrastructure Program (REDIP), the District aims to help local businesses with circular economic practices through education from CETP.
Additionally, businesses that participate in the CETP can apply for grant funding by pitching ideas that incorporate circular economic practices.
The federal government defines a circular economy as retaining and recovering “as much value as possible from resources by reusing, repairing, refurbishing, remanufacturing, repurposing, or recycling products and materials.”
Mayor Armand Hurford called adopting these practices a “necessity” in a news release.
“Holistic environmental policy includes developing our local economy in a way that reduces waste outputs and is a real investment in steering economic prosperity within the community,” he continued.
Hurford spoke of such practices at the annual Mayor’s Luncheon event that took place on June 14 at the top of the Sea to Sky Gondola. He explained that the District adopted circular economic practices when constructing Fire Hall No. 1 in Valleycliffe.
“We were able to divert over 90% of the waste from that from that project,” he said. “So it was recycled, it was reused [and] did not go directly to the landfill.”
Hurford’s example of diversion from the landfill comes just a few months after District officials were informed that the most up-to-date landfill capacity estimates indicate it should be full by 2030. Previously, it was estimated to be 2029.
In 2021, the District developed the Circular Economy Roadmap to activate these circular practices in the local economy. The news release states that the roadmap focuses on construction, the built environment, food systems, and textiles.
