Webinar: Circular Economy Food Solutions from Across Canada

A circular economy promotes three simple principles: design out waste and pollution, keep products and materials in use, and regenerate natural systems. This minimizes impact on the environment, reduces demand for virgin resources, and maximizes the value of resources and product life. It also represents a potentially powerful economic strategy to capture value from the $49 billion worth of value of food—from farm to fork—lost or wasted every year in Canada. This session will introduce how circular economy principles are being applied in agriculture, fishing/aquaculture and food sectors, drawing from innovative examples from across the country.

Stephanie Cairns: Stephanie Cairns, M.Sc., is the 2022-23 Kinross Chair in Environmental Governance, a knowledge exchange chair at the University of Guelph. She has singular breadth from working on circular economy, climate and clean energy, natural capital, and ecological restoration, alongside depth and perspective developed over three decades with leading NGOs, policy institutes, expert panels, and advising political leaders. She served on the 2021 Council of Canadian Academies’ Expert Panel on Circular Economy, and led the circular economy program of Smart Prosperity Institute from 2017 to 2021. She usually lives in Coast Salish territory in British Columbia, where she is actively engaged in protecting, stewarding and restoring Gulf Island ecosystems.