Every October, businesses and individuals across the Peterborough region, along with many other cities and municipalities across the country, celebrate Circular Economy Month.
The idea is simple: instead of the all too familiar cycle of extracting, refining, producing, consuming, and then discarding, a circular economy aims to keep materials in use as long as possible, reducing resource extraction and waste production.
While many individuals do this all year long — be it through thrifting, recycling, upcycling, and repurposing — some local businesses have also made circular economy practices a priority, such as the two Green Economy Peterborough members featured below.
A second life for good gear
Everyone has that pile: the tent used twice; the like-new rain jacket that no longer fits; the skis from that one winter of great ambition. Wild Rock Outfitters, the Peterborough-based, outdoors-focused retailer, has a solution for that pile.
Wild Again is the downtown retailer’s trade-in and resale program where customers bring in clean, lightly used outdoor gear, staff assess the condition and quality, and offer the customer a portion of its future sale value in immediate store credit. The gear is resold both online and in-store, and customers can opt to donate their credit to the ComPassion Project, Wild Rock Outfitters’ initiative supporting local social justice and environmental charities.
Re-commerce, the resale of pre-owned goods, is one of the fastest-growing circular models in retail, says Rob Arkell, local circular economy consultant and coordinator of Wild Again. In apparel, pre-owned sales have grown four to five times faster than new sales over the past couple of years, and he expects them to grow two to three times faster over the next five years which he says, “bodes well for circularity.”
“We’re excited to see that this is gathering momentum,” Arkell says. “To date, Wild Again has sent over 4,000 pre-owned items back out into the community.”
Waste wood becomes a soil amendment
In Cavan, Woodleigh Farms applies circular thinking to a very different matter: soil. The family-owned farm, run by Norm and Emily Lamothe, is reducing waste by looking at innovative ways to extend the life cycle and use of waste materials.
The farm’s Catching Carbon pilot turns waste wood — material with little market value — into biochar. Heated in a low-oxygen environment, the wood becomes a nutritious soil amendment that can improve soil health, reduce the need for fertilizer, and sequester carbon.
Material that would otherwise burn or rot, end up feeding the next crop, thanks to the farm’s pyrolysis unit, which produces roughly 500 tonnes of biochar each year.
Fix it, borrow it, and map it
Circular initiatives may not always be obvious, or easy to find. To address this, Peterborough County — a GreenUP partner — launched the online Circular County Community Hub in 2025.
The hub features circular initiatives with an interactive ‘Share, Reuse, Repair, Recycle’ map which serves as a directory of businesses and organizations that support sustainable practices, from repair shops to donation centres.
Wild Rock Outfitters is on the map, along with shared resource spaces like the Peterborough Public Library. It covers many businesses and services that keep materials of all kinds out of landfills from a broken watch that can be fixed by a local family-owned repair shop, to bags of outgrown clothes that can be taken to a thrift store, shelter, or donation centre.
Start small
Few businesses join the circular economy by first building a pyrolysis unit or hosting an in-store equipment exchange; most begin with smaller steps.
Wild Rock Outfitters and Woodleigh Farms worked towards their large circular economy initiatives over time. Early on, Woodleigh Farms was processing large-scale, farm-suitable compost as a precursor activity to biochar, while Wild Rock Outfitters started out by hosting seasonal gear swaps before implementing their Wild Again initiative.
Like the individual who thrifts, upcycles, or repurposes household items, business owners can start small by identifying one waste stream, or underused resource or product, and then brainstorming with staff, peers, and sector leaders, on how to further its value or pass it along to another business to utilize. Over time, businesses can expand circular economy activities that benefit both the community and the environment while making good business sense.
Green Economy Peterborough is a GreenUP program and business network that supports local organizations in reducing their environmental impact. To learn more and subscribe to the Green Economy Peterborough newsletter, visit greeneconomypeterborough.ca/.
