609. The Government has made a number of commitments in recent years via the Resources and Waste Strategy for England 2018,432 the Net Zero Strategy 2021,433, with key commitments (*) legislated in the Environment Act 2021434 which included the following targets:
• Extended producer responsibility for packaging, placing net costs of disposing products on producers*;
• Deposit Return Scheme for single use drinks containers*;
• Greater consistency of separate collections of a core set of materials, including requiring separate food waste collections in all local authorities in England by 2025*;
• Deliver the UN Sustainable Development Goal 12.3 to halve food waste by 2030;
• Explore policies to work towards the near elimination of biodegradable municipal waste to landfill by 2028; and
• Proposed targets to reduce residual waste by 50% by 2042.
610. The Review heard very clearly that the UK is not moving fast enough on delivering many of its existing commitments - and that this is undermining efforts to decarbonise and potentially wasting economic opportunity. Policy responsibility for resource efficiency is distributed across government departments including Defra and BEIS, meaning initiatives are not always joined up from industry's perspective. This results in a lack of momentum on moving towards a circular economy.
611. The Resources and Waste Strategy for England has been well-received, but the UK is underperforming on i) recycling ii) extended producer responsibility iii) digital waste tracking, consistency of collection iv) minimising the embodied carbon impact of products at the design stage, and v) improving overall policy coherence.
612. Stakeholders told the Review:
"[The Environment Act 2021] is almost a year old and we are still waiting for regulations and any significant moves to exploit the system change opportunities to reduce waste and emissions made possible by this legislation." - Merseyside Recycling and Waste Authority435
"Government intervention is necessary to create the systematic change required to ensure that the sustainable choice is the easy and favourable choice by introducing appropriate policies and legislation to support this. [.] However, policy and regulation in this area is incomplete, and often has a record of inconsistent application and maintenance which undermines both investment in solutions by businesses and individuals and fails to consistently reinforce communications and messages that are required to change behaviour in general." - Suez R&R UK ltd436
613. There were some suggestions that doing more to include UK consumption emissions in net zero reporting could help to drive a greater focus on the circular economy:
"[Including consumption-based emissions in the measures used to evaluation progress] would also give a clear signal to business that government is also grappling with the issue of scope 3 emissions and make it possible to push for greater action. It would also encourage greater resource efficiency and promote the development of a circular economy by giving incentives to develop new business models focused on reuse, repair and recycling as well as promoting onshoring of manufacturing. As the UK begins to develop trade agreements it has an opportunity to differentiate policy from the EU by proactively including ownership of consumption-based emissions, thus offering an incentive to more favourable deals and setting the standard for other major consumption-based economies." - Business in the Community437
614. Stakeholders have indicated that they are keen to invest in the recycling industry. Environmental Services Association members have committed to invest more than £10 billion over the next ten years as long as the regulatory framework is in place.438 A comparison was made with the transition to Electric Vehicles, where the UK has provided a much clearer statement of intent through the planned ban on new petrol and diesel cars - which has given industry the confidence to innovate and invest.439