Circular Economy package expected to be implemented

The comments came from Robert Vaughan, head of household waste at Defra, speaking at the Kent Resource Partnership conference on Friday (22 September).

The EU Circular Economy package is currently being negotiated between EU nations but is expected to be finalised by the end of December.

Mr Vaughan said: “The UK position is that we are generally supportive of the package but we do have concerns about the level of targets for municipal waste, which we consider not achievable, pressed for more flexibility in minimum requirements for Extended Producer Responsibility.

“A vote on the overall package is not anticipated until after the trilogue discussions are complete and this could take several months.”

The head of household waste and recycling said that Defra also supports the EU Council’s position on packaging targets and landfill targets, which include a 70% target of recycling packaging waste by 2030 and sending 10% of municipal waste to landfill by 2030.

“Leaving the EU is an opportunity to re-think how we deliver recycling policies, what opportunities are there for local authorities and what changes could be made to increase recycling rates,” said Mr Vaughan.

He also said that the Circular Economy Package is expected to cover broader category of municipal waste which would affect local waste and recycling services, but could bring opportunities to councils to provide commercial offers for collecting non-household municipal waste. The package also brings into question what barriers there might be in expanding services outside household collection.

Quality

Mr Vaughan also updated the audience on the department’s focus on improving quantity and quality of recycling. In particular, Mr Vaughan noted environment minister Therese Coffey’s “strong interest in recycling in urban areas and willingness to work with urban authorities to raise the bar on performance and to increase recycling levels in towns and cities”.

Mr Vaughan covered the work Defra is doing with WRAP to ‘make it easier to recycle’ by promoting more consistency in recycling based on WRAP’s framework for greater consistency.

He also stressed “having the right drivers in place” to promote recycling and how the department is currently exploring fiscal drivers and ‘quality’  in secondary material markets.