When it comes to reducing waste, recycling alone isn’t the answer; we need to rethink how products are conceived and used and design them to last longer and eventually come back as new materials. It’s a concept called the circular economy and it’s receiving increasing attention worldwide.
With that goal in mind, Professor Tima Bansal, Director of Ivey’s Centre for Building Sustainable Value, will chair a new multidisciplinary panel that will examine the potential economic, environmental, and social impacts of advancing a circular economy in Canada. The panel was created by the Council of Canadian Academies (CCA), a not-for-profit organization that convenes the best experts in their respective fields to assess the evidence on complex scientific topics of public interest to inform decision-making in Canada.
“I’m very honoured to be chair of a panel that I believe will not only reduce our collective environmental footprint, but will be central to the resilience of Canada’s economic future,” said Bansal.
Leading the way for Canada
Bansal will lead a distinguished group drawn from academia, government, and business, with extensive expertise in economics, engineering, industrial design, sociology, environmental studies, and public policy. The panel will address the question: What are the potential opportunities and challenges for a circular economy in Canada? The goal is to produce a report that will inform Environment and Climate Change Canada of the opportunities and challenges associated with the circular economy.
Bansal said the role is an ideal fit given that the Centre for Building Sustainable Value has made the circular economy one of its key strategic priorities, along with finance and innovation, and has produced significant research in this area.
Eric M. Meslin, President and CEO of the CCA, said Bansal was selected as chair due to her extensive expertise in the area of business sustainability. She is currently a Canada Research Chair in Business Sustainability and has received accolades for her scholarship, most recently being elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.
