Barry Friesen is Executive Director of Cleanfarms Inc., a national Producer Responsibility Organization operating coast to coast in Canada. In Quebec, Cleanfarms is known as AgriRÉCUP.
Barry is a professional engineer who has been deeply involved in solid waste issues since 1995, first as a government regulator for waste, a municipal waste operator servicing a half million residents and, since inception in 2010, running Cleanfarms. His range of expertise is in demand at international meetings such as the OECD Conference on Rural Development, the Conference on Canadian Stewardship, Agricultural Film Americas and other circular economy and policy conferences.
Barry currently serves as Chair of the Conference on Canadian Stewardship and as a member of the AGRI plastics working group of the European Association of Plastics Recycling and Recovery Organizations. A recipient of Queen Elizabeth II’s Golden Jubilee Medal, Barry is the past chair of the Board of the Compost Council of Canada, past Board member of the Recycling Council of Ontario, past Board member of the Alberta Plastic Recycling Association, past Chair of the National Task Force on Packaging and past Board member and recent recipient of a Paul Harris award from the Etobicoke Rotary Club. He is also the recipient of CropLife Canada’s CD C.B. Davreux Stewardshipfirst™ Award that recognizes long-standing dedication and commitment to stewardship in Canada’s plant science (2022).
In relation to the fourth session of the International Negotiation Committee to develop an internationally binding instrument on plastic pollution (Ottawa, Spring, 2024) Barry contributed to Canadian government’s “Plastics Action Zone” by leading a sold out panel on creating a circular economy for agricultural plastics in Canada. He also spoke in the prestigious Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN’s panel Navigating the Future of Plastics Used in Agriculture.
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